This month of April is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. In the U. S., Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease. A vector-borne disease is one than can be passed to animals or humans through parasites. Some of these diseases are also zoonotic, which means they can be passed from animals to humans. Lyme disease is carried by ticks--the most common type of tick is the deer tick, which is extremely tiny and hard to find on your furry friends. But due to changes in our environment and more people that travel with their pets, ticks are spreading in areas they use to not reside and also other types of ticks have now been found to harbor Lyme disease. Ticks infect animals and people by biting, attaching and taking a blood meal and usually have to be attached for 48 hrs to transmit disease. Lyme disease can be a deadly disease that people and dogs can die from. Ticks can not only be found in the woods, but also along bike and walking trails, roadsides and your backyard. The CAPC [Companion Animal Parasite Council] recommends yearly screening for tick-borne diseases. WE use this common and easy screening method with the 4DX Snap test. It takes 3 drops of blood and 10 minutes to find out if your dog has been exposed to Lyme, erlichia or anaplasmosis, or is heartworm positive. In our immediate surrounding area we do have Lyme disease present. Some statistics you may find interesting for some vector-borne diseases: Venango County--Lyme--176; heartworm--5| Crawford County--Lyme--52; heartworm--10| Mercer County--Lyme--41; heartworm--29. These would only be a sample of what may actually be out there since these are only the reported cases. Please check out the following website, which has lots of information on ticks and how you can help keep your yard less inviting for parasites: dogsandticks. Other good websites to check out are tickencounter.org/current_tick_activity and you can see what some of the ticks actually look like, and also capcvet.org/parasite-prevalence-maps. To protect your dog from Lyme disease the best protection is: 1.Screening 2. Tick prevention[oral, collar, or topical] and 3. Vaccination [initially a series of 2 vaccinations 3 to 4 wks apart and then yearly]. Call our office today to schedule your screening and begin your vaccination series or schedule your yearly booster. We can also advise you to which combination of preventatives may be best for your situation. 814-425-8311
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:02:21 +0000
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