THE COUNTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 278, 21 November 1913, Page 11

THE COUNTRY.

NECESSITY FOR QU.tANTINE. HEART WORM- IN" TIIE DOG. Most of us who have had much ex- . rn.-i.ence with live stock have ..n various ; occasions seen the iuteotiiu-, ot many of j our domestic animais containing large , nmnoer.s of worms of various kind;. We j have become accustomed io the sight of | such, and ha\e > ie to recognise that] inte-tinal worms are very commonly as-j sociat.ul „i;l, our -wk; but a worm; which Lives in the li-art blood of an animal is a very different matter. This, terrible paraMte - for such it is — is known among veterinarians as Filarial imtnitis. and i- f'uud among .logs in] various parts ~f Kurope and A-a. and j the Pa '■■■ I-ian. 1 .-. I" 1 Kiji practically, ninety ; or cent cf the dog- are affected, i and it «-"'.! !■. readily under, toon by owners 0 f cogs throughout the Dominion what loss ■'■'•• ill be entailed it the heartworm '■: '•'■'- ■■ - -■'ined admission to this ' country. Th- necessity therefore of a lengthy ten- of quarantine for all dogs irom i'\ 1 •■:■ i :1>" l'acinc Islands is very obvious for althouili arsenic has been; used to check the worms, a cure 1- prac-1 tically :upos .b|... Dogs may be affected with the disease I for some time without showing any symptoms. although the existence of the' worm may be shown by microscopical examina'l ,n of ;'<e blood where the embryos ar.- to ':<■■ found. The first symptom that calls one's attention to ' the affe-ted animal Is that after a shnr! run it Is out of breath, then for -..me days it is d".ll and listless; frequently there is a husky cough, followed by vomiting. Anaemia becomes marked towards the end. and in the majority o-' cases convulsions and collapse. Tn a fewcases dropsy is seen, owing to the interference with circulation of the biood in tie liver. Sometimes the affected animal dies suddenly, or 'has only shown symptoms for a few hours, nut in the majority of ea*es symptoms are shown for, several weeks. If a drop of hi... .1 from a dog affected witl"! Fi'.iria immitis is examined with a miorosc-pe. there will eb c seen a varying number ~f small worm-like bodies wriggling about am..u_'-t the corpuscles. The-e are the embryos. At first their movements are very active, 'out they soon become slow and .!;,> | On opening a dug that has died of j the disease, the mature worms are found i ia both cavities uf the right side of the . heart, and in the large blood vessels j leading from it. In some case; only a ■ few worms are found, but in others there may be a hundred or more. If there 1 a-re a gr-'-at number they become tangled \ up with valves of the heart, and interfere ! with its action. The heart, as a rule, is i very much enlarged. When there are I a large number of worms in the pulmon- j airy artery, the blood to the lungs is I interfered with. I The worms vary in length from in to j loin., rhe females being _oi ger than the! males. The sexes are easily distinguished j by the fact that the tail of tlie female! is sbort and round while that of the male is tapering and spiral like a corkscrew. How dogs become affected is pot ■*__ known. It is supposed that mo=- j quitoe suck the blood of an infected dog and so carry away the embryo, I nant pool? of water become infected at I the time the mosquito is layinrr its eggs, j end dies liberating the embryos in the : pools.and dogs become affected hy drinking the water from these pools.