Dog heartworm infection is caused by the roundworm Dirofilaria immitis (or another similar roundworm), which is transmitted to people by infected mosquitoes.
Dog heartworms cannot complete their life cycle in people and do not survive for very long in them, so people rarely have symptoms.
Most infected people do not have symptoms, but if the worm travels to the lungs and dies there, people may cough and have chest pain.
Doctors may discover dog heartworm infection when they see a lump in the lungs on a routine chest x-ray.
No treatment is needed because the infection resolves on its own.
(See also Overview of Parasitic Infections and Filarial Worm Infections Overview.)
Dog heartworm infection is a filarial worm infection that rarely affects people because the worms cannot complete their life cycle in people and do not survive for very long in people.
Dog heartworm infection can be transmitted when an infected mosquito bites a person and deposits larvae of the worm in the bite. The larvae usually die in the skin. However, sometimes the larvae live long enough to travel through the blood to the lungs and die there, forming a lump (nodule), which may be seen on a chest x-ray. Rarely, larvae travel to the eyes, brain, or testes and form lumps there.
Symptoms of Dog Heartworm Infection
Larvae that die in the lungs may cause no symptoms, although some people have a cough and chest pain. Rarely, they cough up blood.
Diagnosis of Dog Heartworm Infection
Removal and examination of a sample of lung tissue
Doctors may discover dog heartworm infection when they see a lump in the lungs on a routine chest x-ray. The lump can resemble a lung tumor. Doctors may do specialized radiological tests or take a sample of the lump (biopsy) and examine it under a microscope to be sure that it is not a cancer.
Treatment of Dog Heartworm Infection
Resolution of infection on its own
No treatment is needed for infected people. Dog heartworm infection resolves on its own.
