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Fleas & Ticks ~ and some diseases they transmit

At the risk of repeating myself, and for the sake of  our many new (very, very welcome!) Villagers,  I am going to update and present more information on the presence and potential problems of our  Village insect inhabitants. This mild Arkansas climate is also enjoyed by large volumes of insects, or critters, as we call them here .  The high elevation  and the lack of moist bottomlands  minimizes the quantities of mosquitoes here . However, biting insects really thrive here, as most of you have or will discover.   Most biting insects here in the Village are carried into your house by your friends. Insects can find their own way into your house, but these solo entries are the exception, not the rule. Friends that come in and out should have some type of insect preventative on them at all times. You must realize that there is no perfect solution nor magical insecticide out there. You just have to treat and prevent more frequently here than in the more northern climates because we are blessed with more warm months . Since tick-born diseases are the most serious, I will give you an update and an explanation on each disease.

Fleas:  Our most prevalent biting Village insect is found on both dogs, cats, and sometimes humans. The most common fleas here are the dog and cat flea. Fleas are not fussy. They will hitch a ride on just about any warm-blooded animal in their search for their primary host, the dogs and cats, better known as your “friends”,  The saliva from flea bites is very itchy (pruritic) and contributes greatly to the “itch index” for our friends. A really hungry flea may also bite you on occasion ,causing a small red bump . Fleas can live for months before they find a dinner guest. The dog and cat fleas do spend most of their time on the furry members of your household, laying their eggs on the skin , and feeding on the nutrients from the blood. A female flea can lay hundreds of eggs over a period of  weeks. The larvae from the eggs feed , develop for a few weeks, and then hatch into new baby fleas. Simple math and common sense will tell you that the potential for thousands of fleas can come from a few well-fed mother fleas . The eggs do fall off of your friends  to your floors, carpets, cushions, and bedclothes. Thorough house cleaning efforts will generally remove most of them. The eggs and larvae can be sucked into your vacuum. Empty the bags or the canisters often so that you will not spread them. The major medical problem associated with fleas is allergic dermatitis, which comes from the saliva of repeated bites. Occasionally, your friend will develop some red spots or hives from flea bites.

Ticks . . . are blood suckers. There are several varieties of  ticks here. The most common ones are: brown dog tick, dog tick, and the deer tick. When ticks attach to a warm-blooded animal they generally require 3-4 days to feed and develop before they drop off the animal. The large, blood-filled ticks are females. They feed for up to one week on the host. They can produce several thousand baby ticks under ideal conditions.  Our mild weather here provides ticks with about ten months of activity. In the last two weeks we have seen ticks on several patients at the clinic. Ticks can carry diseases to both humans and dogs and cats. Erlichiosis. This disease can be transmitted by tick bites. The organism lives in white blood cells and platelets of  both dogs and cats. The symptoms are what you would expect with malaria in humans; fever, depression, lack of appetite. There is no vaccine to protect from this disease. It is found in a very low percentage of dogs and cats.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever:  This is another disease transmitted by tick bites. Both humans and dogs can catch this disease. No information indicates that it has ever been found in a cat. The organism, a rickettsia , prefers the linings of the very small blood vessels of the body where it damages them and causes hemorrhage , edema, and blood clotting. A Village “friend” recently succumbed to this condition. There is no vaccine to prevent this disease.

Lyme Disease: This tick-borne disease is a spirochete named Borrelia burgdorferi. This organism settles into the lymph nodes of dogs and eventually causes an arthritis-like lameness that can take several months to develop. There is a test to determine if either  Borrelia were present or the dog was exposed to the organism. At this point the disease is unknown in cats. There is a vaccine for this disease.  Year around protection against ticks is your best prevention for all of these diseases . Treatment.  Erlichiosis, Tick Fever, and Lyme Disease can all  be treated, but not always to a successful conclusion. I would say they behave a lot like malaria with arthritis symptoms similar to humans. There are carrier states for these diseases, where your friend may not show any symptoms for a long time . Testing.  The tests for these diseases are not completely specific. However, there is a new snap test by Idexx that looks promising.  It has been difficult to differentiate between exposure and vaccination titer. Idexx claims to have solved this problem . Give your friends a hug for me!

DR. BOB

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