
To avoid the risk of a cat becoming infected, do not feed it raw meat. Kittens are more susceptible to the disease than adult cats.

In this case, miscarriage, stillbirth, blindness or brain damage to the baby can result.Ĭats and humans contract the disease from raw meat, which includes wild animals. This outcome is more likely in people with weakened immune systems or when a pregnant woman is infected for the first time. However, on rare occasions, Toxoplasmosis can result in damage to the eyes, brain or other organs.

Likewise, infected cats generally display no symptoms, which makes it very difficult to diagnose them. Normally, the infection causes no problems in humans who develop immunity to the disease and cannot be reinfected. Millions of Americans have already been infected with this parasite. Pet Shed's most popular solutions for ridding your cat of parasitesĪnother parasite that can be passed to humans via cat feces is a tiny single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. Preventing your kitty dining on wild animals such as rats and mice will help to reduce the likelihood of it contracting the infection and potentially passing it on to humans. The masses normally require surgical removal.Ĭats contract tapeworms by eating raw meat infected with juvenile stages of the tapeworm. Hydatid disease is another form of Echinococcus, but this form is only transmitted by dogs.Īlveolar echinococcus is more common in the central northern states and Alaska and causes solid masses in the liver, lungs, brain or other organs which can sometimes be confused with tumors. The only form of Echinococcus transmissible by cats is that causing alveolar echinococcus. Tapeworms of the Taenia and Echinococcus species can also be contracted by humans via accidental ingestion of cat feces containing infectious tapeworm eggs. Infection is more commonly seen in children and the symptoms, similar to those in cats, include segments of tapeworms, (resembling grains of rice), being passed in the feces and sticking to the anal area. The most common tapeworm in cats is the flea tapeworm, but this species is not readily transmitted to humans as it is necessary to swallow an infected flea to contract the disease. Some feline tapeworms can be transmitted to humans. Ticks can transmit diseases such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. However, humans don't catch ticks from cats but are more likely to be preyed upon by a hungry tick waiting in the environment, which leaps onto a passing human in search of a meal of blood. While cats are not as commonly affected by ticks as dogs, both cats and humans are susceptible to attack by ticks. However, these little critters only remain on humans for a short time. This is because humans are an abnormal host for feline parasites, so the parasites become lost and confused in a human body and do some unusual things when they cannot find their way to a target feline organ.Įxternal parasites like fleas and mites (such as Notoedres mites and Cheyletiella mites) can sometimes hop on to humans and cause a lot of itching of the skin, sometimes accompanied by a rash. There are several external and internal cat parasites that are zoonotic, some of which can be more serious to humans than to their pets. Right: Extreme magnification of the anterior end of an adult of Ancylostoma caninum, a dog parasite that has been found to produce a rare human infection known as eosinophilic enteritis.A disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans is known as a zoonotic disease. Worming your pet regularly will prevent zoonotic hookworm infection. These 元 are found in the environment and infect the human host by penetration of the skin. Images: Left: Filariform (元) hookworm larvae.
Cat hookworms in humans skin#
This can result in a disease called cutaneous larva migrans (CLM), when the larvae migrate through the skin and cause inflammation.

People become infected when the zoonotic hookworm larvae penetrate unprotected skin, especially when walking barefoot or sitting on contaminated soil or sand. The eggs of these parasites are shed in the feces of infected animals and can end up in the environment, contaminating the ground where the animal defecated. Dogs and cats can become infected with several hookworm species, including Ancylostoma brazilense, A. Zoonotic hookworms are hookworms that live in animals but can be transmitted to humans.
