BORRELIOOSIA LEMMIKKIELÄIMILLÄ ETENEVÄSSÄ MÄÄRIN

[Bb]

Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 23.5.2006 7:52

Uusien borrelioositapausten määrä lemmikkieläimillä on lisääntynyt 30 -50 % USA:ssa. Tauti voi toisinaan olla melko oireeton myös eläimillä. Tarinan Maxxilla on borreliosi mutta sillä ei ole oireita tällä hetkellä.

Joka viidennellä tutkituista koirista on todettu borrelioosi. Kaikki eivät kuitenkaan saa oireita välittömästi. Osalla oireet häviävät alkuvaiheen jälkeen. Omistaja saattaa uskoa että koira on parantunut. Siinä saatetaan kuitenkin olla väärässä sillä oireet voivat palata myöhemmin ja aiheuttaa vakavia niveltulehduksia, munuaisvaurioita jne.


http://ledger.southofboston.com/article ... news04.txt

PET HEALTH: LYME DISEASE ON THE RISE IN DOGS

Veterinary technician Jessica Flaherty tests "Kramer" for Lyme disease at Randolph Animal Hospital. (GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger)

By JOHN P. KELLY
The Patriot Ledger

Maxx, though mostly an indoor dog, always gets a seasonal dose of anti-tick medication for his occasional jaunts into the woods behind Mary Ann Smiths house.

So Smith was surprised to learn last month from a vet at the Pembroke Animal Hospital that her 9-year-old yellow Labrador had Lyme disease. He had no symptoms, Smith said. ?Maxx was a normal, happy dog.

South Shore veterinarians say they are witnessing a dramatic increase in the prevalence of the disease, and speculate that milder weather has allowed ticks to thrivt at the expense of dogs and dog owners.

We have to have seen a 30 to 50 percent increase in these two years,â said Dr. Susan Harrington, a 12-year veterinarian at Randolph Animal Hospital.

The hospital, like others in the area, has responded by adding a screening composite for the disease to the annual test for heartworm. In the past, the hospital would test only dogs suspected of having the infection.

So far, Harrington estimated, one in five dogs tested has come up positive for some level of the infection.

âIt used to be the dogs we see getting Lyme disease had been down at the Cape, or in New Hampshire, Maine or Connecticut, she said. ?We now see quite a bit of Lyme disease in the Boston suburbs.

Brockton Animal Hospitalâ??s Dr. Scott Huffenus attributes the rise in cases to late frosting and early warming.

The population of ticks seems to be exploding with the more mild winter, Huffenus said.

A bacterial infection, Lyme disease is transmitted by deer ticks that burrow into the skin of animals and humans and feed on their blood.

Incubation can take days or weeks. Infected dogs may turn lethargic, run a fever, tremble or limp from a sore or swollen leg, according to Dr. Paige Pongratz, a vet at Pembroke Animal Hospital.

Symptoms - not all dogs get them - sometimes vanish after a few days, leading some to assume their pet has shaken the illness.

But that can be a mistake. Left untreated, a small percentage of cases of Lyme disease turn severe, Pongratz said. Dogs may develop painful arthritis, joint problems or damaging kidney disorders, she said.

For a small subset of dogs, (Lyme disease) can be a death sentence,â??â?? she said.

Treating the disease is simple and relatively inexpensive.

Most vets prescribe a three- to four-week course of antibiotics - Doxycycline, which Maxx is taking, is popular, costing about $30.

Once-a-month Lyme disease preventives are also available for about $20.

Dog owners should check their pets for ticks when the animals have been in wooded areas. It usually takes a tick 36 hours to infect. They should be removed with tweezers.

â??â??(A tick) is truly the size of the head of a pin,â??â?? Pongratz said. â??â??It can be mistaken for a freckle.â??â??

Lyme disease is more common in dogs than humans, said Tom Forschner, executive director of the Lyme Disease Foundation.

â??â??Dogs have been sentinels for humans when it comes to Lyme disease,â??â?? he said.

Humans donâ??t need to worry about being infected by their dog or the tick that infected the animal, Forschner said.

But this latest spike in cases for dogs could foreshadow an increase in human cases, he said.

Entomologists predicted a rise in Lyme disease cases last fall, according to Forschner, whose Connecticut-based foundation is monitoring similar increases along both the East and West coasts.

John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com .

Copyright 2006 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Saturday, May 20, 2006