CONTROVERSIES AND DILEMMAS IN MANAGEMENT OF CANINE HEARTWORM INFECTION

摘要

Prevention of HWI is an obvious and attainable goal for the veterinary profession. Prevention failure results from ignorance on the part of owners as to the presence or potential severity of HWI, lack of owner compliance, or from inadequate instruction on preventative measures by the attending veterinarian.1,32"34 Studies of owner compliance have revealed that approximately 55% of dog owners that use veterinary care purchase heartworm preventative, and enough medication is dispensed only to meet theneeds of approximately 56% of those dogs. Hence the proportion of "cared for" dogs in the population that receive adequate heartworm prophylaxis is less than one third.33 If one takes into consideration doses purchased but not administered and dogs thatare never taken to a veterinarian, the percentage of protected dogs falls drastically. This was emphasized in North Carolina in 1999, when Hurricane Floyd caused extensive flooding and disruption in the poorest part of the state. Of dogs rescued from thefloodwaters, 67% were infected with heartworms (personal communication, Dr. Kelli Ferris, North Carolina State University, 2003). In addition, evidence suggests that the veterinary profession is failing in its education of clients. New and colleagues, upon questioning veterinary clients purchasing macrolide preventatives, found that 38% did not realize that their prescribed drug's spectrum was broader than solely preventing HWI.