Intestinal Worms in Dogs

Be careful!!  Intestinal parasites in dogs are potential health hazards for humans, too.  If hookworm larvae penetrate the skin they can cause "cutaneous larval migrans", a potentially serious and scarring inflammation.  If you happen to ingest roundworm eggs, they can cause a disease called "visceral larval migrans", where tiny worm larvae migrate through the person's intestinal wall and into the body tissues.  They then grow to larger size almost anywhere in the body.  Ocular disease is a common sequel "visceral larval migrans".  Children are at most serious risk especially if they play around where the dog's feces may be present, like in a sandbox.  A single adult Toxicara canis female can shed up to 100,000 eggs a day which pass into the dog's environment with the dejection.  Please take the worming advice of your veterinarian seriously and adhere to strict sanitation principles whenever pets and children are in close contact.  Note... roundworms are not spread to people simply by close contact with dogs or cats.  The individual must ingest the infective stage of the roundworm eggs; since the eggs are primarily associated with feces, humans would somehow need to consume the egg contaminated feces for contagion to occur..