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One of the most common, yet over diagnoses in small animal veterinary medicine today is the diagnosis of Lyme disease in our canine companions. This has been especially true in recent years, as many veterinary offices are running in-house lab test that includes not only a heartworm test, but a blood test for exposure to Lyme and other tick borne diseases. The key word here is exposure. |
Any pet who tests positive on routine screening, but who does not have any symptoms of Lyme disease recently or within the past year, likely does NOT have Lyme disease, but was simply exposed to the disease and got over it most likely on their own. Too many dogs are being unnecessarily treated with several weeks of antibiotics like Doxycycline, based on a lab test result, rather than whether their pet has actual symptoms of Lyme disease.
These symptoms include lethargy, lameness which can often be shifting from one leg to another, swollen lymph nodes, and fever. In fact, studies have shown that greater than 90% of dogs exposed to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease never develop any symptoms and thus don’t need to be treated. The latest research in both human and veterinary medicine is beginning to show that it is not so much the Lyme bacteria itself (i.e called Borrelia Burgdorferi) that causes patients to become ill, but an overactive immune response that leads to symptoms in certain people and animals. Thus this disease is what is known as an autoimmune disease, where the body’s own immune system is attacking itself.
Recent studies have failed to show any live bacteria in the body in pets with rare kidney complications of Lyme disease, thus lending more credence to the fact that this disease is more of an autoimmune disease (like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis), than due to the bacteria itself. And it is for this reason that making an effective and safe vaccination has been so difficult in my opinion and experience. Many prestigious veterinary institutions like Cornell and Penn still do not recommend Lyme vaccination, but good tick prevention with products like Frontline Plus or K9 Advantix in helping prevent exposure to this disease.
Some years back a Lyme vaccination for people was tried, but was pulled off the market rapidly when it was discovered that the vaccination made people sicker rather than prevent disease. It is in my opinion that this is the case with dogs as well. A more recent test called a C6 quantitative antibody test has been developed to hopefully increase accuracy at diagnosing Lyme disease in dogs. However, even with this test we should not just be treating the lab value, but only if the patient has a history of clinical symptoms. The ideas I am presenting here are very important for animal guardians to become informed of. Each week I get calls from many distressed clients when they are told by their veterinarians that their pet has Lyme disease based on a single in house lab test. As a result their pets are often prescribed weeks to months of inappropriate antibiotics which are based on lab tests only. My opinion is that we need to be more aware of misuse and overuse of antibiotic therapy, which can increase the risk of yeast infections, as well as the future development of resistant strains of bacteria when antibiotics are used inappropriately.
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