GP diagnosed neck lumps in cat caregiver as worms from her cat. He was wrong.

Francesca Knee-Wright, from Brighton, had only given birth to her second child three months before she noticed a 'very small' lump on her neck. She had it checked out and was told to watch and wait. More lumps developed and her GP told her that they were caused by parasitic worms (endoparasites - probably roundworms) that she had acquired from her two Spanish rescue cats.

Francesca Knee-Wright. Image: Kennedy News and Media

She queried this and a second opinion diagnosed something entirely different and far more serious: Hodgkin's lymphoma which is a relatively aggressive form of blood cancer that can quickly spread through the body.

She is on chemotherapy and shaved her hair to stop the difficult emotional effect of watching her hair fall out.

Having read the story I did some research on the roundworm and whether it could cause lumps as described. They can.  Here is the lowdown:

Can roundworms in cats be transmitted to humans?

Yes, roundworms in cats can be transmitted to humans, specifically through a process called zoonotic transmission. This type of transmission usually happens if a person accidentally ingests roundworm eggs, which are shed in the feces of infected cats. These eggs can survive in soil, sand, and other outdoor environments for long periods, making it relatively easy for humans to come into contact with them, especially in areas frequented by cats.

In humans, roundworm larvae can migrate through body tissues in a condition known as toxocariasis, which can affect the liver, lungs, eyes, and other organs. Children are particularly vulnerable because they are more likely to come into contact with contaminated soil or sand and might not practice proper hand hygiene.

To prevent transmission, some key measures include:

• Regular deworming of pets, as advised by a veterinarian
• Practicing good hygiene, especially washing hands thoroughly after handling cats, cleaning litter boxes, or coming into contact with soil or sand
• Covering sandboxes to prevent animals from using them as litter boxes
• Avoiding bare-hand contact with soil or areas where cats might defecate.

If you have any concerns about toxocariasis or the possibility of exposure, consult a healthcare provider for advice on testing and treatment.

And these worms inhabit the gut of the human. Correct?

Actually, no—roundworms in humans generally don’t mature in the gut as they do in cats. Instead, when humans accidentally ingest roundworm eggs, the eggs hatch in the intestines, but the larvae don’t settle there. Instead, they migrate through various body tissues in a process called larval migrans.

There are two primary types:

1. Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM): The larvae travel to organs like the liver, lungs, and sometimes the brain. This can cause symptoms like fever, fatigue, coughing, or abdominal pain, depending on which organs are affected.

2. Ocular Larva Migrans (OLM): Sometimes, larvae reach the eyes, which can lead to eye inflammation, vision problems, and even vision loss if untreated.

Since roundworms don't complete their life cycle in humans, they can’t develop into adults in the gut. Instead, they become trapped in body tissues, where they eventually die but may cause inflammation and other symptoms.

And the larvae mature to adult worms in these locations?

No, in humans, roundworm larvae do not mature into adult worms. Instead, they remain in the immature larval stage throughout their lifecycle in human tissues. After hatching in the intestines, the larvae migrate to various organs and tissues but lack the necessary environment to mature fully as they would in a cat or other definitive host.

In these human tissues, the larvae often cause localized inflammation as they move through, but they eventually die off without maturing into adult worms. This can still result in significant symptoms, especially if they reach sensitive areas like the eyes or organs, but full-grown adult worms are not seen in human cases of roundworm infection.

Can they cause lumps in the neck?

Yes, roundworm larvae migrating through human tissues can, in some cases, cause lumps or swollen areas, although this is less common. When the larvae travel through or lodge in tissues, they can trigger an immune response, leading to localized inflammation or granulomas (small nodules formed by immune cells around the larvae).

In the neck, this could potentially result in lumps if the larvae pass through lymph nodes or surrounding tissues, but it’s more typical for them to affect organs like the liver, lungs, or eyes. Swollen lymph nodes in the neck can also react as part of a systemic immune response to the infection, although this symptom can be caused by a wide range of other conditions.

If there’s a persistent lump or swelling in the neck, it’s best to consult a healthcare provider for an accurate diagnosis, as they may recommend tests to rule out or confirm conditions like toxocariasis.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Woman believed that the 60 roundworms on her eye came from touching a dog or cat and then touching her eye

In what must be an extremely rare case, a Chinese woman in China believed that the 60 roundworms that resided between her eyeballs and her eyelids came from either a dog or cat that she touched and then touched her eye thereby transferring larvae in the fur of either a dog or cat onto her eyes where the larvae hatched and became roundworms. Her eyes were itchy as a consequence.

Worms of the Filarioidea type. These can't have been the worms described in the news media as they are too long. Image: Wikipedia.

Doctors were shocked when they discovered around 60 roundworms, 40 from her right eye and over 10 from her left.

The doctors believed that she was infected by roundworms of the Filarioidea type which is transmitted to people to fly bites or mosquitoes as understand it.

The lava of these roundworms do not reside in dog and cat fur. And therefore, on my research, this woman did not get these roundworms above her eyeball in such large numbers from either a cat or dog but from a mosquito if the correct species of roundworm has been identified.

It is technically possible to acquire roundworms of the Toxocara canis variety by touching a dog that has roundworm larvae on their bodies and then touching the eye to transmit the lava from the dog to the person. However, the roundworms of the Toxocara canis species are around 15-20 cm long.

On that basis, it's impossible that this was the roundworm in the cited case because it would be impossible to have 60 of these worms residing in between the eyeball and the eyelid.

Clearly, these worms were very small and it would appear, therefore, that there were of an entirely different species because roundworms of the Filarioidea species are also much too long to reside in large numbers above the eyeball as stated. They can be 8 to 12 inches in length.

Therefore, the reporting in the news media is inaccurate but perhaps the lesson to be taken from this inaccurate reporting is that it is possible to acquire a roundworm infection from your dog as the eggs from the species are passed in the dog's faeces and can contaminate the dog's fur or the environment. The fur can be touched by the person and, as mentioned, transmitted to the person but it won't be these tiny worms described by the news media.

Source: www.daijiworld.com

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

List of the kind of parasites inside stray cats in the Middle East

It may interest cat owners to understand better the kind of endoparasites (parasites living inside an animal) that inhabit stray cats in the Middle East. It concerns and interest me. I'm interested in the health of stray and feral cats. How healthy are they when left entirely alone? We know that feral cats cared for by TNR volunteers can live quite good lives; even better than domestic cat sometimes. But what about stray and feral cats living without any human intervention? The cats at the bottom of the list in terms of health and welfare.

There are some studies about these sorts of cats and one such study took place in Iran (Gastrointestinal parasites of stray cats in Kashan, Iran by Mohsen Arbabi and Hossein Hooshyar of the Department of Medical Parasitology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Kashan-Iran). It was published in 2008. The scientists looked at the species i.e. type of gastrointestinal parasites inside stray cats in Kashan, Iran.

Feeding stray cats in Iran. Not all stray cats are so lucky but these animals are infested with endoparasites. Photograph in the public domain and on Pinterest.

The first point to make is that, perhaps as expected, 95.6% of the 108 cats checked were infested with endoparasites inside the gastrointestinal tract. The second point to note, and a side point, is that all these cats were killed and necropsied. In other words they were cut open and their organs: kidney, heart, liver, lungs, gastrointestinal tract checked for parasites. That is disturbing.

RELATED: 95% of stray cats have worms and 57% scavenge potentially life-threatening refuse.

About two thirds of the cats were male and the remainder were female. They found 15 species of endoparasites including helminths and protozoa. Helminths are parasitic worms i.e. nematodes. Protozoa are single-cells microscopic creatures and parasitic as well in this instance.

RELATED: How do I know if my cat has worms?

Here is the list of parasites found inside these unfortunate cats including the percentage of cats infested:

Nematodea (worms):

• Toxocara cati 13.3%;
• Physaloptera preputialis 39.8%,;
• Rictularia 52.2%;
• Uncinaria stenocephala 1.8%;
• Cestodea (tapeworm):
• Mesocestoides lineatus 7.1%;
• Taenia taeniaformis 15%;
• Diplopylidium nolleri 64.6%;
• Dipylidium caninum 68.1%;
• Joyeuxiella echinorhyncoides 85% (small worm: maximum length of 9 cm , and often being only 2 to 3 cm in length)

Sporozea (a protozoan with a cyst-forming stage in their life cycle):

• Isospora rivolta 5.3%;
• Isospora felis 5.3%;
• Sarcocystis spp 8%,;
• Blastocystis spp 16.8%.

Zoomastigophorea (another species of protozoan which are flagellates):

• Giardia felis 0.9%;
• Trichomonas spp 1.8%.

They decided that the contamination rate for zoonotic parasites i.e. parasites that can be transmitted between animals and people, was greater than expected in this region of Iran. They suggested, therefore, their control measures should be taken to protect people.

What is the point of this article? Answer: to remind ourselves and to highlight the fact that human carelessness leads to animal suffering. It leads to ill health in animals. And let's not brush the problem under the carpet. Let's take responsibility. These cats are in their predicament because we put them there. This is a humankind problem. It is carelessness and thoughtlessness. And to compound the problem these cats are often persecuted as pest and vermin by ignorant people. It's a double whammy of ignorance and inevitably it is animals who face the consequences primarily.