Lyme Disease Found In Dog At Fall River, NS

Two confirmed dog cases have come down with Lyme disease in two weeks at Fall River Veterinary Hospital in Nova Scotia, Canada. As summer starts to kick in, veterinary experts are wary of an upsurge of Lyme cases among pets in this season.

Veterinarians point out that summer is the time of the year when dogs are most at risk of contracting Lyme disease. Sometimes, infections do immediately reveal worrying signs and symptoms.

Borrelia burgdorferi is a black-legged tick responsible for transmitting Lyme infection to both humans and their canine friends. To infect the host, the tick has to latch on and feed for up to 48 hours.

"We're seeing an increase in tick numbers every year. We're seeing them in more and more areas in the Halifax Regional Municipality - they're definitely spreading. There are no areas in HRM I would call tick-free, so everyone has to be on the lookout," said Dr. Ainsley Davidson-Rowe as quoted by The Chronicle Herald. "We're going to be seeing increases in diagnoses in people and pets.

The report confirms earlier suspicion that Lyme disease-carrying ticks threaten animal pets and their human owners in the province's wooded areas. But Canadian experts say that while Lyme disease is increasingly common, protecting pets from infection is now easier than before. A drug called Bravecto, a chewable tablet, can put down a tick before Lyme infection spreads out.

"It's not as bad a disease in dogs as it is in people, by any means. The treatment is pretty effective. It's antibiotics for three weeks," said vet Dr. Sarah Bowers as quoted by CBC. "As soon as the tick starts to feed, they start to die."

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that around 300,000 people in the US are diagnosed with tick-caused Lyme disease every year- 1.5 times the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer and 6 times the number of those with HIV/AIDS as per LymeDisease.Org. But the number could be higher since Lyme is a difficult to diagnose. Symptoms may mimic other signs found in other diseases like nervous breakdown, extreme pain in muscles and joints, and heart-related conditions.