Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog intestinal parasite rates dropped after heartworm and flea
By Gates, M Carolyn & Nolan, Thomas J·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2014·School of Biological Sciences, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Declines in canine endoparasite prevalence associated with the introduction of commercial heartworm and flea preventatives from 1984 to 2007.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study of over 20,000 dogs showed that the use of modern heartworm and flea preventatives has significantly reduced the rates of certain internal parasites, like roundworms and hookworms, from 1984 to 2007. In the earlier years, many dogs were infected with these parasites, but by the late 2000s, the prevalence dropped to less than 2% for most of them. This decline coincided with a rise in the number of dogs receiving monthly heartworm and flea prevention. While some parasites like Giardia and coccidia remained unchanged, the overall findings suggest that keeping your dog on these preventatives can help protect against various internal parasites.
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Abstract
The apparent monthly prevalence of endoparasite infections was measured from 20,991 dogs that had fecal examinations performed upon presentation to the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania between 1984 and 2007. In the period from 1984 to 1991, the mean monthly prevalence of endoparasites was 5.32% for ascarids, 9.80% for hookworms, 9.64% for whipworms, 1.84% for tapeworms (Dipylidium caninum), 4.59% for Giardia species, and 3.04% for coccidia. Based on Student's t tests, the prevalence of ascarids (1.99%), hookworms (1.48%), whipworms (2.33%), and tapeworms (0.29%) were found to be significantly lower in the period from 2000 to 2007. Plots of the smoothed monthly averages revealed that the declines in prevalence occurred shortly after the introduction of modern heartworm and flea preventatives to the commercial market. In the latter study period, 79.8% of dogs were on monthly heartworm prevention and 74.0% were on monthly flea prevention. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of either Giardia species or coccidia species between study time periods. Overall, the findings suggest that heartworm and flea preventatives have had cascade effects on endoparasite prevalence in the population of well-cared-for dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24880645/