The Silent Strike to the Heart
Heartworm filter test is becoming more and more important in the regular health checkups of our beloved domesticated animals such as dogs and cats. This is due to the increasing number of heartworm infections spreading across the different continents and these heartworm filter tests are the only way to detect if the parasite is present in our pets so that treating heartworm positive dogs and cats can begin.
This parasite also infects the host of other wild and domesticated animals other than dogs, and it is rapidly spreading across many countries. So what exactly is this heartworm? When you first hear the word, it doesn’t even sound like a parasitic ailment, for me it sounds more like a love song than a disease but sadly, it is a very serious disease that afflicts thousands of man’s best friend all over the world.
As its name advertises, this parasitic organism is a kind of roundworm that lives in the host animal’s heart and major blood vessels leading to the lungs when it reaches its adult form. The heartworm spreads to other host animals by a very effective method, the adult heartworm lays eggs that hatch into microscopic larvae which are let loose into the bloodstream, along comes a mosquito and bites the dog, or any other infected animal, the larvae transfer to the mosquito and develop into its second stage of life, when the mosquito bites another animal, these maturing larvae then transfer to the new host and easily find their way to the cardiac organ where they will reside as mature heartworms. Its life cycle is without a doubt the main strength of this deadly organism, but with the help of our technology today, this parasite’s life-cycle has also become the basis of the different heartworm filter tests available in animal diagnostic centers, for example, a canine heartworm blood test detects the presence of a heartworm infection by looking for heartworm larvae in blood samples taken from an animal suspected of harboring the disease, because when in their larvae form, these parasites are prolific in their hosts’ blood stream.
This type of heartworm filter test is called the microfilaria test because the larvae are also called microfilaria. Another type of canine heartworm blood test is called the heartworm serology test, this test checks for substances produced by adult heartworms such as proteins and other markers, and a positive result tells the diagnostic team that an infection is indeed present. The heartworm serology test is much more accurate than other canine heartworm disease tests out there because it can detect the presence of the parasite even in its early stages when it is not fully mature yet to produce larvae. You might be thinking that these tests sound like they will be painful for your pet, but worry not, as the test only requires a small amount of blood that is obtained through a small needle injection; it’s just like any vaccination shot that your dog should be used to by now.
How should we go about in treating heartworm positive dogs? Well it cannot be stressed enough that prevention is better than cure, so we should first take steps to protect our animal companions from risk factors such as mosquitoes, there are also commercially available preventive drugs for this purpose. But if the infection is already present in your pet, there are a number of drugs that can kill the adult form of heartworm, such as Melarsomine and Thiacetarsamide sodium, these drugs are injected directly to the blood vessels of infected animals and treatment duration may vary according to the extent of the infection. These parasites are ruthless nuisances that can literally suck the life out of our beloved animal companions so we should do the best that we can to fight them off.