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LYME DISEASE IN THE VILLAGE -

DOGS AND PEOPLE!

Since the tick season is upon us with full force, I thought it would be time to update you with the most current information on the disease and the recent introduction of a vaccine for our doggy friends. There is also a vaccine available for humans, but I will leave that up to your family doctors.

BORRELIA: This little fellow is a spirochete. That means it is a squiggly-shaped organism that lives in blood. The disease is only transmitted from body to body by blood transmission. This organism lives in the blood stream of animals and is transmitted by ticks to other animals. The main carriers of  Borrelia are deer ticks, which we all know, abound in the Village. Deer ticks are not particular. They will feed on deer, who don’t develop the disease, but are reservoirs for the disease, and then fall off and go through their cycle of molting and growing, and conveniently hitch a ride on just about any warm-blooded critter. These ticks then attach to your doggy or kitty and have the potential to transmit the disease. Borreliosis, or Lyme Disease, doesn’t seem to bother our kitty friends. At least, we vets have not connected this organism to any particular feline disease or symptoms at this point in time. However, with the introduction of a canine vaccine against Lyme Disease, you can be sure that many vaccine companies are trying to connect the disease with our kitty friends also! The deer ticks require three hosts and four different developmental steps to complete their two year life cycle. Their Spring nymphal stage and their second year Fall adult stage seem to be the two prime times. This is presuming our southern ticks are on a Spring-Fall schedule. The female ticks remain on the host (deer, mice, lizards, etc.,) for five to seven days. They then fall off, and hibernate through the winter.

TRANSMISSION TO OUR DOGGY FRIENDS: Fall and early Spring seem to be the most likely times for transmission of the disease to our canine friends. That , in research language, does not mean that Summer and Winter are not possible infection times. That statement only means that the potential is less. Of course, these researchers are not living in the Village! Our Fall and Spring do continue for a long time around here! The information maintained by the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, on dogs indicates a very low infection rate. However, I can tell you that most of us vets don’t like to talk to the government unless we have to. So I have spoken with several of the vets in the larger practices in this area and have found that those vets who routinely run titers for Lyme disease on our more blue-collar doggy friends find a very high incidence of  high titers for Lyme disease. These particular doggies have a high fever and have never been vaccinated for Lyme Disease. So I believe the correlation is accurate.

SYMPTOMS: The disease causes a transient fever, which may or may not be discovered in time. The classic symptom is a variable arthritis in our doggy friends. Signs of lameness come and go. I have seen one documented case of a recurring fever in a doggy that was tested positive for Lyme Disease here in the Village. I know that several other doggy friends from the Village have tested positive at some of the Hot Springs vet clinics. So the disease is here. TREATMENT: Simple antibiotics will clear up the symptoms if  promptly treated. However, the disease may always be present in your doggy friend and he or she may relapse.

PREVENTION: At this point , only Frontline and/or a tick dip to prevent the ticks from attaching to your doggy friend can prevent the disease from being transmitted.

ZOONOSIS: This word means, we humans can get the disease! This disease is now drawing wide interest in the medical community as possibly an underdiagnosed condition. There is now a vaccine for humans against tick fever. There has been a vaccine for our doggy friends for some years now.

VACCINATION: The Lyme vaccination for our doggy friends consists of  ground-up (macerated) purified extract of  Borrelia. This substance, when injected into our doggy friends, stimulates an antibody response, which is considered the best way to resist the disease should a tick make it past all of the defenses.

COMMENTS: Most of the research and the attempts to diminish the potential of this disease in our doggy friends is not based upon the conditions here in the Village. I know the disease is here. The vaccine and tick prevention should prevent this from ever happening to your doggy friend. If you choose to not vaccinate against Lyme, that is your risk. Now that we know the disease can be transmitted to humans , possibly from our doggy friends, who would want to risk that after we have worked so hard to get here so we can play! Give your friends a hug for me !

DR. BOB

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