The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360
Aug 11, 2026 · 20 min · 11 segments
Richard Gerhold, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology), joins this episode of the Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360 to break down angiostrongylus vasorum, also known as the French heartworm, a second…
Richard GerholdGuestAdam ChristmanHost
It's, it's crazy to find it and, uh, you know, I, I-- it's one of those things where I kept on doubting, uh, that we actually found it, but after getting-- redoing it and getting the same genetic sequences and making sure all our controls were right, and then everything lined up with what we saw in histology, I felt comfortable finally publishing it.
And, uh, it just goes to show that-- Another thing I'll say is, um, I know sometimes funding agencies can think that just general surveillance of parasites may be what they consider a fishing expedition.
But if we don't know they're there, we don't even know how to give information on protecting dogs or protecting humans or protecting other species.
And CAPC, I'm a big fan of the CAPC reports too, just to look at trends and everything.
So, uh, I just would say that any dog that, um- has respiratory disease and you're not, your normal, um, suspects aren't coming up, uh, it'd be worthwhile to either doing a, a Baermann exam or a, I would suggest a zinc fecal float, um, to look for the dorsal spine larvae or to send them to a diagnostic lab and have them look for it.
I was gonna ask that because do they know, do these diagnostic labs now know of this particular parasite to be on the lookout for it, since it's microscopically different than Dirofilaria?
Um, it's, uh, I would say if you're part of the, uh, American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists, yes, you probably know about it, but, uh, other diagnostic labs may or may not know about it.
And, um, so hopefully the continuing education of this will, uh, further, uh, keep their eyes open for this.
It's, it's crazy to find it and, uh, you know, I, I-- it's one of those things where I kept on doubting, uh, that we actually found it, but after getting-- redoing it and getting the same genetic sequences and making sure all our controls were right, and then everything lined up with what we saw in histology, I felt comfortable finally publishing it.
And, uh, it just goes to show that-- Another thing I'll say is, um, I know sometimes funding agencies can think that just general surveillance of parasites may be what they consider a fishing expedition.
But if we don't know they're there, we don't even know how to give information on protecting dogs or protecting humans or protecting other species.
And CAPC, I'm a big fan of the CAPC reports too, just to look at trends and everything.
So, uh, I just would say that any dog that, um- has respiratory disease and you're not, your normal, um, suspects aren't coming up, uh, it'd be worthwhile to either doing a, a Baermann exam or a, I would suggest a zinc fecal float, um, to look for the dorsal spine larvae or to send them to a diagnostic lab and have them look for it.
I was gonna ask that because do they know, do these diagnostic labs now know of this particular parasite to be on the lookout for it, since it's microscopically different than Dirofilaria?
Um, it's, uh, I would say if you're part of the, uh, American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists, yes, you probably know about it, but, uh, other diagnostic labs may or may not know about it.
And, um, so hopefully the continuing education of this will, uh, further, uh, keep their eyes open for this.
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