It is a parasite illness that is spread by a mosquito bite; the tiny microfilariae move through the blood for many weeks until they mature into adults and infiltrate the right heart chambers, causing congestion, pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary vasculitis.

As a result, infected dogs exhibit respiratory symptoms such as fatigue, coughing, exhaustion, syncope, and ascites.

Heartworm is also a zoonotic illness, which means that it may spread to humans through mosquito bites as well. As a result, if we can progressively reduce the disease’s prevalence in animals, we can do the same for humans.

How can we prevent heartworm infection?

It is critical that dogs are always protected from mosquito bites with proper external antiparasitics that are effective, especially when we travel to high-risk locations.

If you visit risk areas on a regular basis throughout the year, it is best to administer an oral medication before the month of the first day of contact (if you go for more than a month, you must administer it once a month and then before the next month passes), so that the filarial worms are killed while they are still very small and circulating in the blood.