{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A parasite that may potentially kill dogs has been found for the primary time within the Colorado River in Southern California, a examine from University of California, Riverside stated.
The parasite is named Heterobilharzia americana, which is a flatworm extra generally generally known as a liver fluke.
It had beforehand primarily been found in Texas and different Gulf states, has now unfold west.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} “Dogs can die from this an infection, so we hope to boost public consciousness that it’s there,” UC Riverside nematology professor Adler Dillman instructed the UC Riverside News. “If you’re swimming within the Colorado River with them, your pets are in peril.”
CAT AT ANIMAL RESCUE AGENCY WITH PIERCING GREEN EYES IS UP FOR ADOPTION: ‘SHE’S A STUNNER’
A parasite that may doubtlessly kill dogs has been found for the primary time within the Colorado River in Southern California, a examine from University of California, Riverside stated. (Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)
Researchers with the varsity headed to Blythe, California, on the border with Arizona, and picked up and examined 2,000 snails on the banks of the Colorado River there after discovering out a number of dogs contaminated by the parasite had all swum there.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} The examine stated their findings counsel “a wider distribution [of the parasite] than beforehand reported. Our findings have implications for public well being, veterinary drugs, and biodiversity conservation, contributing to growing efficient management methods to forestall the unfold of this rising infectious illness.”
“In our examine, we efficiently confirmed the presence of Heterobilharzia americana for the primary time alongside the shores of the Colorado River, infecting two species of snails, Galba humilis and Galba cubensis,” the examine authors stated. “This vital discovering marks the westernmost report of this endemic North American schistosome within the U.S. The identification of the parasite in an space with a documented historical past of canine schistosomiasis emphasizes the persistence and potential growth of this parasitic menace.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} Heterobilharzia americana is endemic to the Gulf Coast and South Atlantic area of North America, however has additionally been present in states similar to Indiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and most lately, Utah.
Along with dogs, it might probably infect mammals similar to raccoons, marsh rabbits, horses, nutria, bobcats, mountain lions and opossums, the examine stated.
Eleven dogs in three counties have been confirmed to have the illness and one has died, the UC Riverside News stated. (iStock)
Once contained in the pores and skin, the parasite migrates into the lungs the place it might probably trigger hemorrhaging.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} “It will get into the veins of the intestinal lining, and that’s the place it develops into an grownup and mates,” Dillman instructed the UC Riverside News. “The presence of the adults within the veins isn’t the issue. It’s the eggs that get into the lungs, spleen, liver, and coronary heart. The immune system tries to cope with it, and laborious clusters of immune cells referred to as granulomas type. Eventually, the organ tissues cease functioning.”
Eleven dogs in three counties have been confirmed to have the illness, and one has died, the UC Riverside News stated, including that signs, together with “lack of urge for food, and finally embody vomiting, diarrhea, profound weight reduction, and indicators of liver illness,” can take months to indicate up.
“Treatment sometimes entails use of a number of drugs and shut monitoring of the canine by a veterinarian,” Emily Beeler, a veterinarian with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, instructed the newspaper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The parasite could cause swimmer’s itch in people, however not an an infection.
