Both dogs and humans can get heartworm infections. But your dog can't give it to you through their bodily fluids. Heartworms get into the bloodstream of both humans and dogs through mosquito bites. Heartworms in the blood of an infected animal reproduce in the gut of the mosquito after a blood meal.
What are the symptoms of heartworms in humans?
Most reported cases of D. immitis infection in humans have been in persons with no symptoms. People with symptoms can have cough (including coughing up blood), chest pain, fever, and pleural effusion (excess fluid between the tissues that line the lungs and the chest cavity). Rarely, D.
Can humans get heartworms from their dog?
Can People Get Heartworms from Their Pets? People cannot get heartworms from their pets. Heartworms are only transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. In rare cases, people can get heartworms after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Can humans develop heartworms?
(Unlike in dogs, infected people don't have the parasite microfilaria in their blood, which is how the infection is passed on to mosquitoes and other animals). Heartworm is a rare and rather innocuous problem in humans – it's nothing to lose sleep about.
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