Can a person get a worm from a cat? This question interests many, because to meet a family in which there was not a pet is difficult. Yes, such a probability exists. People of any age can easily transmit helminths of the animal. In addition, most of the furry pets are the owners and carriers of parasitic worms, which not only calmly pass to humans, but also pose a serious threat to the health and even life of the infected. They affect not only the intestines of the patient, but also the majority of internal organs, as well as the brain and eyes. How are worms transmitted from cats? Yes, in the simplest way, with close contact with a sick animal, eating with it from one plate and constantly sticking it!
Many wonder why a clean house cat that never walks down the street is exposed to helminth infection. In this, for the most part, we are to blame ourselves, bringing eggs of parasitic worms home on our shoes. They enter the animal's body, develop into sexually mature individuals and lay eggs that the cat, licking its fur coat, carries around it, and then pass into the body of a person who forgot to wash his hands after talking to the animal. Also, worms are transmitted to cats from raw meat or fish, by which we feed them. To exclude such a way of penetration of parasites into the organism of a domestic animal, one should compose its dietary intake from special forages.
People who keep pets in the apartment are often interested in the question of how the worms are transmitted from the cat to the child. Children are most prone to this scourge than an adult. No child will pass by a cute pet, especially a small kitten, without patting it, or not having treated anything from their hands, and often even mouth. This situation is fraught with the fact that eggs of worms, located on its fluffy skin or tongue, are very quickly transferred to the new owner. Will give out that the kid has caught worms from a cat or other domestic animals such symptoms appeared as a constant itch of the anus, capriciousness, deterioration of well-being, increase or deterioration of appetite.
How dangerous are cat's worms for humans?
The danger is not all, but only some types of parasites transmitted by affectionate pets to humans. They cause serious diseases that pose a serious threat to the health of patients of any age. Most often, such serious diseases as opisthorchiasis can develop from transmitted to human feline helminths, after infection, serious lesions occur in the pancreas, gall bladder and liver. Severe consequences can also occur when infecting with diphyllobothriasis caused by worms of river fish and passed on to people from those cats that feed on it. The danger of infection with these parasites is that they cause significant damage to the gastrointestinal tract.
Most people who keep pets are interested in what helminths can get infected from cats. Of the huge species of parasitic worms, about 30 species of worms can be transmitted to a person from cats. Most often, the following types pass:
- The most common parasites, which can be easily picked up from a pet, are roundworms. These worms are transmitted from a simple touch of a person to the fur of a cat. Their danger is that these parasites settle in the small intestine, irritate its mucous membrane and provoke the development of various diseases;
- Very dangerous for humans can become echinococci. In medicine, they are called cestodes. Adult worms get to the cat through raw food. You can infect them from your cat by simply stroking it. These parasites, after being passed on to a person, settle in his liver and poison her with the products of their vital activity. Infection leads to the formation of cysts, which can only be cured by surgery. If you do not carry out therapeutic measures, the illness ends in a fatal outcome;
- From the cat is transmitted and a worm, like a cucumber tapeworm. This representative of the class of tapeworms is practically not a threat, but one of its presence in the body is quite unpleasant. Parasites reach a length of 50-70 cm, localize in the intestine and cause people such symptoms as general weakness, fatigue and loss of appetite. In the organism of cats they pass through eaten flies and beetles.
How do you determine if a cat has worms and prevent the risk of transmitting them to a person? To do this, you should carefully watch your pet. The presence of her parasites gives symptoms such as worsening the general condition of the animal, "riding" them on the floor on the pope, increasing or worsening appetite, diarrhea or constipation and the causeless loss of hair. But you should also pay attention to the fact that all these signs can be present even in the majority of infectious diseases of the animal, so before the beginning of treatment it is necessary to show it to the vet.
How not to get worms from cats?
In order to minimize this danger for an adult or child, you should listen to the following tips:
- The most important thing is that from an early age begin to accustom the baby to hygiene. Also, all possible threats to communication with stray animals should be explained to children;
- Feline helminths can also be transmitted to humans when they come into contact with the soil to which animal excrements are located. To prevent this from happening, you should beware of walking barefoot, especially in suspicious places, and also carefully monitor the cleanliness of children's sandboxes;
- Do not let cats lick their host's face, sleep with him on one pillow and eat from one plate.
also minimizes the risk that the worm will be transmitted from the pet to the person, careful cleaning of its tray, as well as timely de-worming, which should be carried out at least once every six months.