Experimental infection of Ancylostoma braziliense in dogs and cats in Thailand. II. Blood loss

Abstract

Blood loss through the gastrointestinal tract of local cats and dogs experimentally infected with A. braziliense obtained from Japan was studied using 51 Cr labeled autologous red cells. Hematological changes and egg output were also recorded during the course of the experiment. A scant blood loss was detected in the feces commencing on the 19th and 21st days in dogs and cats, respectively, infected by oral route. The corresponding figures for dogs and cats infected by the cutaneous route were the 16th and 21st days, respectively. Blood loss was 0.48-3.30 ml/day in cats which harbored 57 to 559 hookworms and 0.53 to 2.88 ml/day in dogs with 43 to 792 hookworms. There was a direct relationship between the number of worms recovered and the total blood loss, while the blood loss per worm per day bore a reverse relationship to the number of worms. The finding that A. braziliense caused a relatively insignificant amount of blood loss in cats and dogs indicated that it was less pathogenic to these hosts than the other species of hookworm.