Can any intestinal parasites be passed on to people?

Yes. So intestinal parasites can be passed on to people. Immediately my mind goes to ... Okay, say an animal, a cat, in this case, has roundworms. They shed roundworm eggs in their stool. I think it's two days or so, give or take a little bit. But let's say that in two days, those roundworm eggs become larvae, and that's infective larvae. Two things can happen. And thankfully, it's not something we see in adults. Unfortunately, it can be seen in children, because they don't always have the same hygiene as we do as adults. But number one, if you were walking around barefooted and maybe you have a cut or any kind of defect on your skin, an abrasion, anything that the skin barrier is compromised, and you step in a pile of infected roundworm poop, that can penetrate the skin, and cause cutaneous lesions. It's called cutaneous larval migrans. But that is something that you will see. And that happen to an adult or a kid.

You can see what’s called ocular larval migrans. And there's another version called visceral larval migrans. They are when an infective roundworm larva is ingested, usually orally. And yes, I'm talking about people the same way. Maybe you were handling the cat's stool. You were cleaning the litter box. You didn't wash your hands properly. If the stool is ingested, it can migrate to those areas, the eye, or your internal organs. And those roundworms will migrate right through specific organism and leave little fibrous tracks. It's a mess. It's a nightmare, and you don't ever want to deal with it or have to deal with it in your kids. The ocular version can cause blindness. And it's permanent—irreversible blindness.

How do you prevent all this scary stuff? You take your cat to the veterinarian, you get them checked, you get them de-wormed, and you keep them on a proper preventative. And we don't worry about it.

Unfortunately, yeah. Roundworms and hookworms are what we call zoonotic, meaning that they are passable to humans. This is typically through what we call the fecal-oral route, which means you get some sort of fecal particles on your hands, perhaps when you're cleaning the litter box or even petting your cat. And then you forget to wash your hands before you have a snack or pull a piece of cat hair out of your mouth; you could potentially transfer roundworm or hookworm eggs into your mouth and, therefore, your body, as gross as that is.

Other potentials that are less common are that hookworms in the environment can migrate through small cuts in your skin in your feet and can start to migrate through your body that way. It’s not super common, especially in our environment where it's really cold a lot of the year, but it can happen. And then the less common intestinal parasites like coccidia and Giardia are also contagious to people. Thankfully, we don't see those as much in cats, but we'd always want to maintain good hygiene whenever there are concerns with intestinal parasites.

Yeah. There's a couple of parasites that are quite scary. Roundworm and hookworm can be transmitted to humans, and we never want children to be exposed to parasites. As veterinarians, we’re also concerned about your family's health. We make sure that there are no parasites and no one in the family would ever be exposed to them, so please come in and let us help you figure out the best deworming for all your animals in your household, and let us know about the ones that live outside. Sometimes people have an outdoor cat, and they fail to mention that, but that would mean a chronic source of parasites that the family can be exposed to.

There are some that can spread to people. Tapeworms aren't common as you would actually have to ingest the tapeworm in order to get it, so that's not a huge ordeal that we see, but it is a possibility. But there are some other intestinal parasites that can spread to people as well, mainly by not handling the stool appropriately. Not being very hygienic whenever handling that litter box can cause some problems.

This is a very important question. The answer is yes, although it isn't common in America. An example includes ringworm, a skin parasite in cats that is extremely contagious and can be transmitted to people. Regarding intestinal parasites, roundworms are a serious issue in other countries and can be transmitted from animal feces to people. Roundworms can be found in really weird places. They found them in the eyeballs of people and sometimes in the brain, where they can be devastating. Fortunately, we don't see them in America a lot, but it's still possible.

The next parasite is hookworms. Hookworms are not as life-threatening as roundworms, but they can be problematic. If the larvae of the hookworm are in the stool or the yard, and a person walks in that environment barefoot, they can burrow into the skin and cause intense itching. Hookworms are usually self-limiting and go away, but it's not very fun or comfortable. The best way to minimize risks to people is to focus on the guidelines we mentioned about prevention. Be hygienic, pick up the stool, wash your hands, and keep all the pets on good parasite prevention. These measures will all reduce your risk of getting infected.

Some parasites can be passed from a cat to a person, which is known as a zoonotic disease or zoonotic parasite. If your cat has a zoonotic parasite, your veterinarian will discuss the risks to you and your family. If you have any questions specifically about your cat's intestinal parasite risk or deworming your cat, consult your veterinarian or reach out to a local pet hospital for assistance.

Yes, some intestinal worms can also affect humans. Hence, it is important to maintain cleanliness and wash your hands after cleaning the litter box.