Beware of the dog, particularly if it's a puppy. It could make you seriously ill. That's the message from Clement Ng and his colleagues at the Milwaukee Health Department, who have found potentially deadly parasites lurking in the faeces of many pet dogs in the Milwaukee area.
When Ng and his colleagues examined 300 stool samples from show dog clubs, boarding kennels and veterinary clinics, they found Cryptosporidium in 7.3 percent of the animals and Giardia in 11.7 per cent. Samples contained adult parasites, eggs, larvae, or highly resistant cysts. Ninety percent of the dogs testing positive for Cryptosporidium were puppies 30 weeks old or younger, while for Giardia, puppies accounted for 76 percent of the affected animals. However, the dogs appeared perfectly healthy, and none of them displayed symptoms of infection.
New Scientist Magazine issue 30th May 1998, page 6
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