Intestinal Parasites: Giardia

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

23 Jan 2008 03:54 PM

While I was reading up on worms, I came across some other types of intestinal parasite. Giardia are single-celled organisms that can cause illness in pets and people.

Symptoms of Giardia infection include:

• Weight loss -- large populations of Giardia can interfere with food absorption
• Listlessness
• Diarrhea or stool that is soft, light colored, and greasy
• Mild anemia

If your pet has had contact with dirty or potentially contaminated water or with animals with similar symptoms, you may want to have your veterinarian check for Giardia.

These protozoans mature in stages. The inactive form -- known as cysts -- is found in contaminated water and contaminated feces. Cysts can survive for several weeks or even months in cold, wet environments, threatening human and animal populations alike. If your pet ingests Giardia cysts, the cysts will open and discharge a mobile form known as the trophozoite. Trophozoites can live in the intestines of a healthy pet for years without causing any symptoms. In pets with weak, immature, or overburdened immune systems, the trophozoites will multiply and cause giardiasis.

Diagnosing Giardia can be tricky because the number of cysts and/or trophozoites in the stool can vary from day to day. Your veterinarian may need several days' worth of samples before making a diagnosis.

Sanitation is very important when treating a pet with Giardia. This organism can infect animals AND humans. Here are some tips to prevent Giardia infection:

• Wash your hands after you clean up pet messes or pick up feces.
• Keep babies and toddlers away from pets that have diarrhea.
• Prevent your pet from drinking potentially infected water in streams, ponds, and swamps.
• Avoid public areas that are polluted with feces.
• Clean surfaces with Lysol, ammonia, or bleach to decontaminate if you have a pet who has been infected with Giardia.
• Don't let an infected pet swim in recreational water to avoid passing Giardia to others.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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