Hookworms are parasites that live in the soil and can infect dogs. Dogs can get hookworms in different ways: by swallowing them, through skin contact, or, in the case of puppies, through their mother’s milk.
Using hook-like mouths with sharp cutting plates, they attach to a dog’s intestinal wall and feed on blood. Signs of infection include diarrhea, loss of appetite, weakness, blood in the stool, anemia, and other concerning changes. In severe cases, especially if untreated, the blood loss can become life-threatening.
For many years, veterinarians treated hookworm infections with medications that target adult hookworms and larvae. However, according to Dr. Jeba R. J. Jesudoss Chelladurai at Auburn, that long history of effective treatment is also part of the current challenge.
“Dog hookworms are one of the cases where we have FDA-approved products that are prescribed for infected dogs, and they were working wonderfully until the mid-2010s, when we first had these reports that there are multiple drugs that are failing to treat hookworms in dogs,” Dr. Chelladurai told the AKC Canine Health Foundation.
When Parasites Become Harder to Treat
Hookworms are especially dangerous because they feed on blood. Puppies are at particular risk of serious complications because their young bodies are less able to compensate for blood loss.
“The problem with hookworms is that they drink blood,” Dr. Chelladurai said. “So, a young puppy is unable to compensate for that loss because they can’t make enough blood.”
Now, as the parasite has become resistant to the treatments veterinarians commonly rely on, adult dogs of all breeds are being affected in ways that were once far less common. This kind of infectious disease challenge demands careful science: researchers must uncover what is driving the resistance and better understand how the parasite behaves, while veterinarians need better information to guide treatment decisions.
Building a Test to Detect Resistance
With funding from the AKC Canine Health Foundation, Dr. Chelladurai and her team took on a critical question at the center of this growing problem. She dreamed of giving veterinarians a powerful new tool: a PCR test that could identify both the hookworm and its drug resistance profile.
By identifying genetic material, PCR testing can reveal important details about what is contained in a sample. In this project, Dr. Chelladurai designed a PCR test to do two important things: identify resistant hookworm infections and determine how strongly resistant they are.
Over the past five years, including three years at Kansas State University and two at Auburn, Dr. Chelladurai has collected samples from around 225 dogs, far surpassing her original goal of 100. Her results are promising. The test has been validated and works.
So far, she has found that more than half of the hookworm-infected dogs tested had medication-resistant genes. Among those samples, 40% showed very high resistance levels, indicating that medication may not be fully effective, if it works at all.
A Practical Step Toward Better Information
Dr. Chelladurai’s next and final step in this study is to send her results to a premier DNA sequencing lab for final validation. Her PCR test is expected to become available through Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, and she hopes that, after final validation, the test can be made available across the country at other universities and clinics.
This is how research helps outsmart infection: by providing veterinarians with better information about the parasites they treat and by helping science keep pace with emerging resistance. With continued donor support, CHF-funded studies can advance the tools and knowledge needed to protect dogs from infectious disease.
Thanks to our generous donors we continue to Outsmart Infection and keep dogs healthy. Help support us – visit: akcchf.org/OutsmartInfection
