He and others in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn have looked into inflammatory changes in the lungs of cats and dogs as they responded to the parasite. Dillon is working with researchers at Harvard University on the acute lung injury model of heartworms. AU scientists have also tried to determine whether heartworms predisposes an animal to other allergic or infectious diseases. Some animals, even after they are successfully treated for heartworms, have suffered such severe damage that they are never again the same. The heartworm is a good model from which to study how the dog lung and the cat lung respond to foreign insult.
Cats are more predisposed to intense lung reactions, bronchial asthma for example.
He has begun to study the influencing factors that lead to ARDS, Acute Respiratory Disorders Syndrome, which can be triggered by several diseases and is usually fatal in humans and animals. Once set off, it is difficult to reverse. Five years ago, we would not have understood the mechanism of this disease and the reason this dog's lung's failed.