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Giardia, by Judy Guile - Certified Obedience Trainer/Behaviorist
Giardia is a protozoan that lives in many water sources and can be found
not just in waste water, but also in well water, mountain streams, pools,
and even city water systems. When ingested, Giardia can cause numerous and
potentially serious gastrointestinal problems. Because of technical and
clinical limitations it continues to be one of the most commonly misunderstood
and underestimated of all the infection animal diseases. Perhaps the best
explanation for this is that symptoms aren't always obvious, and the disease
is difficult to diagnose. This may be because the most commonly used tests
typically fail to detect the presences of infection. Because of this, some
veterinarians won't recognize many clinical cases in their practice and
will continue to perceive Giardia as less than a pervasive threat. The current
treatments help in dealing with the symptoms of Giardia but have limitations.
What is a "Giardia"?
Giardia is a flagellate protozoan whose life cycle includes two phases—Cyst. The cyst is a microscopic, hard shelled, pod. It is the infective element. Infection usually occurs when cysts are ingested by drinking contaminated water or from coming in contact with another infected animal.
Cysts are very resistant to environmental factors. They can survive more than two month in water at 46F and about one month at 70F. Boiling or filtration have proven to be effective in eliminating cysts form water sources.
-Trophozoite. Once cysts enter a host, gastric acids and pancreatic enzymes cause them to excyst, releasing the trophozoite. The trophozoite attaches itself to the brush border of the mucosa. They vary in size and have four pairs of flagella and two nuclei. After attachment, each trophozoite divides by binary fission every 12 hours. At this rate of reproduction, one trophozoite could potentially turn into one million in only 10 days and over one billion by the fifteenth.
Trophozoites begin a morphologic transformation to form cysts, and ultimately the cysts are passed from the host to through the feces into the environment, completing its cycle of infection. Cysts are shed intermittently part of the reason why detection can be difficult. One negative test result for Giardia should not rule out infection.
"I never heard of it. It can't be very common."
Prevalence rates of canine populations revealed approximately 10% in well-treated dogs, 36% to 50% in puppies, and up to 100% in breeding kennels. In a study conducted by the University of California-Davis, a random fecal collection from 117 healthy pups revealed a surprisingly high 35.9% of them were infected with Giardia. A recent field study sponsored by Fort Dodge Animal Health involving more than 75,000 pets indicated that one out of eight pets seen by veterinarians is infected with Giardia.
Symptoms
Once infected, pets may show symptoms such as diarrhea, malabsorption, abdominal pain, camping, weight loss, fatigue, gas, nausea, severe vomiting & dehydration. Symptomatic pets continue to shed cysts placing other pets as well as people at risk.
But There Is Hope
If you suspect your pet is infected with Giardia, make an appointment
with your vet. The most common clinical diagnostic tool is fecal flotation.
Increasing the likelihood of detecting cysts requires the use of a zinc
sulfated flotation solution in conjunction with five minutes of centrifugation.
This test is simple, inexpensive and dramatically increases the detection
of cysts.
Preventive Medicine
A vaccine was developed by Fort Dodge Animal Health - "Giardia Vax", to
help veterinarians prevent this disease. The vaccine can be given to healthy
dogs at as early as 8 weeks of age. A booster is recommended two to three
weeks later and at yearly intervals.
Call your vet and request this vaccination. Spare your pet the pain and
you the worry.
Copyright © Judy Guile
Visit Judy at www.aDogForYou.com
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