Historically, heartworm disease has been overlooked in cats, yet it has provoved to be serious and potentially fatal. Because there is no approved treatment for heartworm infection in cats as there is in dogs, prevention of infection is the best protection.
In the News
The American Heartworm Society is the leading resource on heartworm disease, and our mission is to lead the veterinary profession and the public in the understanding of this serious disease. Every year, hundreds of stories are written on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of heartworm, as well as on the plight of affected pets. These stories are an important way of reaching both veterinary professionals and pet owners with information they need to know about heartworm disease.
The American Heartworm Society is led by a board of directors comprised of veterinarians and specialists in the fields of veterinary parasitology and internalmedicine. As leaders in the fight against heartworm disease, they are available as resources and authors of related stories.
Members of the media are encouraged to contact the American Heartworm Society for information, visuals and interviews about heartworm disease. Please contact Sue O’Brien at Obriensuek@gmail.com. This email is for media inquiries only. All other inquiries, please email: info@heartwormsociety.org.
News & Alerts
Here's a glance at the top veterinary news stories on dvm360.com in 2015.
Whenever we sit down to rank the top-performing news stories on dvm360.com, we look for common themes that could tie the year together. And in 2015, you couldn’t be bothered with a certain reality-TV veterinarian’s behavior—this year, your focus was all about the medicine. So without further ado, your top ten stories of the past year.
Not long ago, heartworm disease (HWD) was considered a problem of the South—it was endemic in the Southeast, Gulf Coast, and Mississippi Delta regions of the United States. Today, we find heartworms not only present in, but also transmitted in, every state in the continental U.S. as well as Hawaii (Figure 1).1
According to the American Heartworm Society, over one million dogs in the United States are currently infected with Dirofilaria immitis (heartworms). If diagnosed in a timely fashion, most infections can be managed medically with good results.
We’re proud to acknowledge that past American Heartworm Society (AHS) board member and winner of the 2009 honorary lifetime AHS membership Dr. William C. Campbell is one of three scientists winning the 2015 Nobel prize for physiology or medicine. Dr. Campbell was acknowledged for his work with Japanese researcher and co-winner Satoshi Omura on the roundworm parasite and the development on the lifesaving compound ivermectin/avermectin.
Results from a survey conducted by the American Heartworm Society and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
(Appeared in PRWeb)
Summertime is fun time with pets. To keep pets happy and healthy this summer season, follow these ten tips from the American Heartworm Society.
(Appeared in Martha Stewart Living)
With lots of warm days and long outdoor romps ahead, pet owners need to be extra-vigilant about keeping harmful pests at bay. Here’s how to tell fleas and ticks (and more) to “bug off!”
(Appeared in Today's Veterinary Practice)
Heartworm disease (HWd), caused by the mosquito-borne nematode Diroflaria immitis, is endemic in most areas of the United states, including urban areas where most of the U.s. population (about 80%) lives. in shelter animals, risk for heartworm infection is thought to be higher than in privately owned pets because stray and surrendered shelter animals are less likely to receive prior veterinary care.
(Appeared in DVM360 Magazine)
Even if heartworm infection is treated, we all know it does serious, permanent damage to the body.