Today's VeTerinary PracTice | september/october 2015 | tvpjournal.com
aHs HearTWorM HoTLine Peer reviewed
74
in spite of the affordability, convenience, safety,
and effectiveness of heartworm preventives
today, every year thousands of dogs and
cats across the country are diagnosed with
heartworm disease (HWd). Meanwhile,
veterinary practices have reported no signifcant
drop in the incidence of heartworm disease over
the past several years.
in a survey conducted by the american
Heartworm society (aHs) in 2013, 60% of
veterinarians indicated that the number of
heartworm cases diagnosed remained the same as
the previous year, while roughly equal numbers
reported an "up" or "down" trend (Figure).
1
Given the availability of preventives with a
very high degree of effcacy, the persistence of
successful Heartworm Prevention:
CraCking the ComplianCe
Conundrum
Christopher Rehm, DVM
Rehm Animal Clinic, Mobile, Alabama
For more
information
on the 2013 AHS
survey, read key
Findings from the
2013 american
heartworm Society
Survey, published
in the July/August
2014 issue of Today's
Veterinary Practice
and available at
tvpjournal.com.
The heartworm hotline column is presented in partnership between Today's Veterinary
Practice and the american heartworm Society (heartwormsociety.org). The goal of the
column is to communicate practical and timely information on prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment of heartworm disease, as well as highlight current topics related to heartworm
research and fndings in veterinary medicine.
FIGURE. Courtesy American Heartworm Society (heartwormsociety.org)