Abstract
The reported number of cases of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, is thought to have increased in the UK over the past decade, but consistent surveillance data are lacking. Here the prevalence of B. burgdorferi in ticks attached to pet dogs was examined – using them as sentinels for human disease risk. Dogs give a good indication of the exposure of their human owners to infected ticks, since they largely share the same environment and visit the same outdoor areas.
Lyme disease in humans begins with a red rash spreading from the tice bite then flu type symptoms. If not treated, it can become chronic and lead to problems that include nerve damage, blindness and death. Dogs do not have symptoms that are so obvious.
In this study about 481 infected ticks per 100,000 dogs were found. Treatment is a course of appropriate antibiotics. Lyme disease and testing and treatment can be found at the CDC website.
PCR was used to test 739 tick samples collected from 3534 dogs selected at random as they visited veterinary practices over a period of six months. Overall, the prevalence of infected ticks on all dogs was 0.5% giving an estimated 481 infected ticks per 100,000 dogs. The data suggest that the prevalence of Borrelia in the UK tick population is considerably higher than most recent estimates indicate.
Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 16 January 2012
Faith D. Smith, Rachel Ballantyne, Eric R. Morgan, Richard Wall