Keeping cats and dogs without science can cause illness

Breeding cats and dogs is a risk of infection with Toxocara Canis larvae (dog roundworm), Toxocara Cati (cat roundworm) to humans. When infected with worm larvae, the patient may have a fever, thinness, and prolonged cough. If larvae develop in the central nervous system, the heart and lungs will lead to convulsions, cerebral edema, prolonged headaches .

Toxocara Canis larvae - dog roundworm (Photo: wellcome.ac.uk) According to Dr. Tran Thi Hong, Chairman of the Department of Parasitology at the Center for Training and Fostering Health Officers in Ho Chi Minh City, raising cats and dogs, Pet is currently a new trend of Ho Chi Minh City people. However, most people still keep cats and dogs naturally (mainly seaweed) without the care of veterinary. This method is a potential risk of disease caused by Toxocara Canis larvae (dog roundworm), Toxocara Cati (cat roundworm).

This disease is quite common in the world as well as in Vietnam and is very dangerous due to unclear clinical symptoms, easy to confuse with other diseases; The disease can only be detected when a parasite diagnostic serum test is performed.

In Ho Chi Minh City's hospitals (BV), there are about 200 cases of cat dog roundworm disease each year. In which there are many hospitalizations with serious disease: fever, vomiting, deep love, behavioral disorders, seizures, hemiplegia . Particularly in Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital 2, from the beginning of the year until now more than 20 cases of hospitalization, in addition to the above severe clinical manifestations, some cases also have bleeding phenomenon, subcutaneous hemorrhage .

Doctor Tran Pham Dieu, Deputy Head of General Department of Pediatrics 4 Pediatric Hospital 2, said: Cat dog roundworm disease is caused by a kind of roundworm living in dog and cat intestines. Eggs follow the dog cat feces out, develop into eggs with embryos infected in the soil, causing environmental pollution. Eggs can also be swallowed by people, especially in children who often play with land, or cuddle cats and dogs, and often do not wash their hands before eating, eat raw vegetables thoroughly. Dog or cat roundworm eggs into the small intestine who hatch into larvae, invade the intestinal wall, follow the blood route spread throughout the body like muscle, brain, eyes, heart .

When entering the human body , the larvae do not have an adult stage but are just larvae and go to which organ they enclose the cocoon at that organ, causing inflammation and stimulating granuloma infiltration of eosinophils, and never excrete eggs in feces. When infected with dog cat roundworm larvae, patients may have fever, pale, thin, coughing and prolonged wheezing. In severe cases, when larvae are located in places such as the central nervous system, heart, lungs, it will lead to generalized seizures, cerebral edema, prolonged headaches, hemiplegia, lower limb paralysis, inflammation Brain - meninges and can cause vision loss leading to blindness, blindness if not detected promptly.

Before the movement of raising cats and dogs is increasing, to avoid the risk of outbreak of cat dog roundworm disease according to this trend, doctors and specialists have warned that children should not be exposed too much to cats and dogs. , playing with the earth, eating the earth; cats and dogs should be raised with good veterinary care, such as regular checkups and treatment for cats and dogs; Should thoroughly wash raw vegetables before eating and not eating the pig heart, the chicken is not cooked well.