So Mako had his vet check up and was positive for round worm. Vet give both dogs a dewormer. They are fine, but sleepy. My question is - how likely is the dog to human transmission? We wash our hands after picking up the poop, but Google (it's probably better not to google these type of things) says that you can get it from them licking you or sleeping in the bed.

That's affirmative. How likely, I can't tell you.

I would get checked I really wouldn't want to risk it!

Thanks for the responses. I figured as much. Off to the doctor we go...

Just to put the opposite twist on this ... your lawn undoubtedly has the larva or eggs of various types of infectable worms in it - but that doesn't stop most of us from going out to our swimming pools in our bare feet (I don't have a swimming pool, I'm just being real loose here).  I'd be surprised, if you've ever had a dog who's had worms, that you wouldn't find eggs, at least, in your rug.

The CDC suggests that there are nefarious parasites out there just waiting to 'take over' our minds, hearts, livers and anything else they can infect.  

The US, this year has an estimated 322,000,000 people living in it.

Chagas, transmitted by the kissing bug, has infected approximately 300,000 people - with about 300 new cases detected annually.  Most in the American southwest, I believe.
Hanta virus, once a deadly scare in the American southwest (hm, where do I live? ... of course) can be brought into the home by dogs and cats bringing in an infected rodent or carrying the droppings of infected rodents. Hantavirus, discovered - if I remember correctly - when a group of Indians in the American southwest started dieing at an alarming rat - has infected 333 people.

Getting more 'on topic' (though Hantavirus can be transmitted by fleas) I found a lovely web site that discusses the worms that infect our pets and may infect us as a result.

I think it safe to say that almost all of us were / are at risk of a zoonotic infection (one transmitted from a domesticated animal to a human) and I also think it safe to say that not one in a thousand have ever been so infected.

Linking to the Centers for Disease Control for some information, I think I'll list some of the diseases that can transmitted to you from your dog:

• Campylobacteriosis
  
• Dog Tapeworm
  
• Hookworm
  
• Rabies
  
• Roundworm
  
• Brucellosis
  
• Cryptosporidiosis
  
• Echinococcosis
  
• Ehrlichiosis
  
• Giardiasis
  

<facetious>For certain, if you have a pet dog, you should have your pet and yourself tested for these</facetious>

Going back, once again to the CDC, this link discusses the prevention of dog born diseases. The obvious two at the top of the list are, first, to wash your hands after handling your dog, its food and its feces. The other is to 'clean up' where your dog has defecated.

I will not suggest that we don't have any concerns, but people and dogs have co-existed for millenia and we haven't killed each other off yet.

And it continues. aljones now has me freaked out and listing my pets on Craigslist...

Just kidding, of course!

The chances of being infected by your pets are really low as long as you're washing your hands regularly. That's why they say to wash your hands every time you go to the bathroom. It's not because you just used the toilet (although that's reason enough to wash your hands) but because it's a good reminder to do it at regular intervals, and people go to the restroom regularly. I'm sure you're oaky.

Such useful information alijones & whitehusky3. Both dogs are good now, I think I'm going to risk it with myself and if I start to see symptoms then I'll go to the doctor. Just happy this worm chapter in our lives is over!

I guess I should have realized this before (or the vet should have told me?) but the heartworm 6 month vaccination only protects against heartworm. It does not prevent other types of intestinal parasites, which left my big one open to catching the roundworm from the puppy. I guess its back to the monthly chewable now.

I didn't know they had a vaccine for heartworms. I would stick with the chewable if the vaccine doesn't protect against other parasites. I have Suka on the chewable because we had an issue with whipworms when I first got him and I wanted to make sure he didn't have them anymore.