Doggy Poop and our Health
Our relationship with animals occurs at many levels. We benefit
from their company, their unconditional love and from helping
our immune system to mature. Children will specially learn life
skills from caring for and playing with pets. However, children¹s
proximity to our pets, especially dogs, makes them more vulnerable
to, and requires our increase awareness of zoonosis. Zoonosis
are diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans.
Toxocara canis is a gastro intestinal parasite, a worm that
lives in the intestines of dogs. The adult worm produces eggs
that are shed in the stool. Eggs can contaminate soil and
lawns and persist in the soil for a very long time. If a toxocara
canis egg enters the intestine of a human, it transforms into
a larva (a baby worm). The larva does not develop into an
adult worm in the intestine of the human. Instead, it crosses
the intestinal wall and migrates to other organs, causing damage.
This disease called Visceral Larvae Migrans (VLM). Cases have been reported
where the larvae enters the retina, causing blindness.
The occurrence of VLM is very rare. I have heard
of only one case of VLM in Nova Scotia. Local health practitioners
I've consulted have not seen any cases. However, a study conducted in the
nineteen eighties at the IWK hospital in Halifax demonstrated that 14% of urban
and 19% of rural children
that entered the hospital had contact with the toxocara canis
worm. The study measured the memory that the immune system
has of any other organism that it enters into contact with.
None of these children had VLM, but they were exposed to the
worm, hence they had been at risk of contracting VLM. It is
worth noting that the exposure was higher for children from
rural areas, perhaps because of the different management of
dogs.
Whereas the risk of VLM is extremely low, given the seriousness
of the disease it is preferable to err on the side of caution
and keep the risk at its minimum possible level. The IWK study
demonstrated that urban children had the least contact with
toxocara canis. Therefore, the importance of stool removal
cannot be stressed enough. Remove the stool as soon as possible
to avoid soil and lawn contamination. As dog owners, we
have a responsibility not to jeopardize public health.
Secondly, deworming is essential in order to avoid the presence of
adult worms and the production of eggs. There are various
herbal dewormers available on the market. However, their efficacy
and spectrum is not known. Therefore, at this moment I recommend
the use of commercial dewormers which have been tested and for which the
efficacy is known.
We share our life with dogs. They teach us to be funny, to play and be active. They also make us feel loved. But they may
also give us some of their diseases. It is our responsibility to keep them from infecting us or others. The formula is
simple: Poop Picking and Pup Deworming.
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