Hookworm In Dogs

Top 6 Beach Bummers: Illnesses to Look Out for After a Day By the Sea

After your next trip to the beach, you may return home with something much more annoying than sand in your car. 

Germs, bacteria and parasites that cause nasty infections and severe illnesses often lurk in sand and clear-blue water. Here are some of the top beach medical maladies you need to know and the precautions you can take before marking a spot with your umbrella and slathering on the sunscreen.

Food Poisoning

Eating spoiled or undercooked food at the beach could turn your beach picnic into a health scare. A bacterium called staphylococcus rapidly grows on mayonnaise, for example, that’s been left in the heat for too long. In an hour, this bacterium can attack your food and within four hours, it can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea , according to Dr. David A. Farcy, director of Emergency Department Critical Care at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida. To ensure your snacks and meals are safe, bring your food in a well-insulated cooler and pack plenty of ice. If a beach barbecue is in your plans, cook the meat longer than you would at home, especially if you like your meat on the pink side.

Unprotected Feet or Hands

You may think twice about not wearing sandals. Needles, pet waste and worms are just a few of the nasty things potentially hiding under your feet. Last year, public health officials scrambled to tackle a hookworm problem along a stretch of Miami Beach. Hookworm infection is spread via infected stray cats or dogs that use the sand to cover their feces. Dr. Farcy says the parasite can enter through unprotected skin, generally feet, and causes intense itching and possibly blisters several hours later. 

It’s scary to think medical waste can turn up along our shores, but it’s happened. Your biggest concern with a needle prick would be hepatitis B. Dr. Farcy recommends if you are pricked with a needle, see a doctor who may recommend undergoing testing, and adds, “unfortunately there is no way to prevent hepatitis B after it happens.” To put your mind at ease concerning the risk of HIV, Dr. Farcy says the virus is too fragile, and the risk is near zero unless the needle was recently used and freshly discarded.

Sea Lice/Swimmer’s Itch

No one wants to come into contact with sharks, stingrays or jellyfish, but there may be a friendly encounter with a fish that brushes against you and leaves behind a parasite, causing severe itching in the bathing suit area. Many swimmers may rush to the nearest beach shower to rinse off, but Dr. Farcy says not so fast because that you may do more harm than good. “The fresh water will kill the parasite, causing them to release a toxin that will cause the itch to intensify,” says Dr. Farcy. The best bet is to remove your swimsuit (not in public) and wash with soap and water.

Hookworms in Dogs

What are hookworms?

Hookworms are one of the most common worms to infect canines. They are canine parasites that are found in dogs’ intestinal walls. Physically, they are worms with hook-like mouths, hence they are called hookworms. With their size of approximately 3 mm long, they are so small that you cannot easily see them without carefully looking at them. But you cannot underestimate them by just basing on their size because even though they are too small for the naked eyes to see, they can suck a very large amount of your dog’s blood through your pet’s intestinal wall. Hookworms can be fatal to your dog when the infection becomes severe. It can cause intestinal inflammation and anemia that can cause death to your dog.

How do dogs catch hookworms?

There are many ways that a dog gets infected by hookworms:

Once a dog consumes or at least sniffs infected feces, hookworms will then be transferred inside the new host’s body. These hookworms will create massive reproduction inside the dog’s body. As adult hookworms stay inside the body to feed on dog’s blood, hookworms’ eggs are released through the dog’s feces. As these eggs hatch, larvae are released. These larvae are strong microorganisms that can live even in dews and vegetation until a new host comes to be victimized. Then, the cycle goes back to the top and goes on over again.

Since hookworms can live in dews and raindrops, it can be easily caught by the dog’s skin. It can enter a dog’s body though the dog’s feet. As they successfully reach the intestinal area of the dog, the life cycle of hookworms will continue.

Through the placental blood flow of the puppy inside the parent’s womb, larvae can be transmitted from the parent’s circulation flow to the fetus. Eventually, hookworms will successfully get inside the intestinal area of the fetus and feed on its blood.

As an infected mother dog feeds milk to her puppies, her puppies will also get infected. So the thing here is, any direct contact with anything infected, will cause hookworms to enter a dog’s or a puppy’s body.

How would you know if your dog is infected by hookworms?

If your dog suddenly looks unhealthy or if sudden changes like loss of appetite occur, then your dog might be infected with hookworms. Symptoms also include paleness of nostrils, ears and lips. Digestive problems can also occur like constipation, diarrhea and dark feces. If hookworms gets to spread throughout the dog’s body and reaches its respiratory system, the dog might begin coughing. Hookworms, when neglected can also cause sudden death.

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