It doesn’t cause symptoms in the animal but can make humans very sick with diarrhea, fever, and cramps lasting about a week. Besides snakes and lizards, turtles and iguanas also harbor this bacteria. As a result, the disease known as salmonellosis, caused by the bacteria salmonella, is becoming more common, Nelson says. Clean up after your pet, placing all waste into a plastic bag and disposing of it in the trash can.Īpartment dwellers who aren’t allowed to have dogs and cats often decide to get a lizard, snake, or other reptile instead. And be sure to have a new pet examined by a vet and treated for worms, if necessary. Make sure that your cat or dog is on a flea and tick preventive medication. Prevention Tips: You can prevent hookworm infections by not walking barefoot or sitting on contaminated soil or sand.The best way to avoid tapeworms is to control fleas in your home. “You may have gastrointestinal symptoms and weight loss.” You’ll likely be put on oral medication.
#Hookworms in humans face skin#
“If your skin comes in contact with the tush end of your dog, they are transmitted to you,” Nelson says about tapeworms. A pet can then infect a person, though the risk is low. Tapeworms can transmit from fleas when a pet self-grooms and swallows an infected flea. The infection usually resolves on its own, or you may be given an antiparasitic treatment. “This is the logic behind not permitting dogs on the beach,” Nelson says. A person can get infected if the hookworm larvae from contaminated soil penetrate the skin. Hookworms in a pet, usually dogs and cats, can be caused by several parasites. Visceral toxocariasis, the illness that can result from roundworms, can be treated with antiparasitic drugs like albendazole or mebendazole. In rare cases, someone infected with roundworm eggs can experience eye, heart, lung, and even neurological symptoms, Nelson says.
If you handle infected sand and then eat without washing your hands, you can swallow the eggs.
The eggs can survive for up to a month in a moist environment like sand or soil where a pet did his business.
Nelson says, which is why they should routinely be tested and treated. Most puppies and kittens are born with roundworms, Dr.