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Heartworm Research Paper

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Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially deadly disease that ultimately affects animals all around the world. A heartworm is a blood-borne parasite called Dirofilaria immitis that resides in the heart and surrounding large blood vessels of infected animals. The presence of heartworms in the body often leads to severe lung disease, heart failure, and damage to other organs. Heartworm disease affects a variety of species including pets, wildlife, and although rare, humans. Heartworm disease in cats is different from heartworm disease in dogs. Unlike the dog, the cat is not a natural host for heartworms. Because of this, very few heartworm larvae make it to adulthood in a cat’s body. In dogs, invading worms know exactly how to find their …show more content…

The lifecycle of a heartworms begins when a female mosquito ingest blood containing microfilariae from a heartworm infected animal. Inside the body of the mosquito, the microfilariae develops into first stage larvae (L1) and then undergoes two more process to develop into third stage larvae (L3) of which is the infective stage. Depending on the temperature, this development process can take between eight and thirty days. At this point, when the infected mosquito attaches to a cat and feeds on its blood, the third-stage larva is transferred into the mosquito bite wound. Within three days of entering the cat, the L3 molt to the L4 stage in the tissues and muscles that lay just below the skin of the cat. After about two months of migrating through the muscles and tissues, the L4 undergoes a final development into immature adult heartworms. Seventy to ninety days post infection, the immature adult heartworms then enter a peripheral vein and are carried by the cat’s blood circulation system to the caudal pulmonary arteries. This is where the majority of heartworms are cleared from the cat due to a mass immune response, but a few may continue development into adults. Once the heartworm develop into adults, they invade the heart first and then spread to other organs in the body and cause

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