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Lyme Disease Vaccine For Dogs

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How Aggressive Is Lyme Disease In Dogs

Dogs can get a Lyme disease vaccine. Why cant humans?

Lyme disease is a serious condition that is transferred to dogs by deer ticks, and it could cause your dog to exhibit behavioral changes, including irritability, aggression and other health issues. According to VetInfo, it takes about 24 hours for the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease to infect your dog.

New Lyme Disease Vaccine For Dogs

Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial disease which affects both humans and animals. The disease is caused by bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which are transmitted to humans and dogs following a bite from an infected tick. Its the most common tick borne disease in Europe, and the number of reported human cases has risen dramatically in the UK in recent years, with an increase of over 300% since the year 2000*. And with a recent survey showing that 15% of dogs are carrying ticks**, unknown to their owners, the risk to our pets cant be ignored.

Clinical Signs Of Lyme Disease

In Lyme diseaseendemic areas, seroprevalence rates of up to 90% indicate high levels of exposure.1 However, for most dogs exposed to B burgdorferiinfected ticks, the developing disease is subclinical few, if any, signs are noticed.3 Unlike humans, a skin rash in the typical bulls-eye pattern does not develop when dogs are bitten by an infected tick.1

If clinical signs do appear, they can include abrupt onset of lethargy, fever, lameness, and warm and swollen joints. The lameness may be confined to 1 joint, or it may shift from 1 joint to another.1,2 Physical examination may reveal peripheral lymphadenopathy, thin body condition , dehydration, peripheral edema, pleural effusion, or ascites.1

Dogs with advanced Lyme disease may experience chronic intermittent arthritis, renal disease, heart disease, and/or neurologic disease. The 2 main clinical manifestations of Lyme disease are arthritis and nephritis. The resulting renal changes are called Lyme nephritis and can include glomerulonephritis and protein-losing nephropathy.1-3 Renal failure resulting from Lyme disease is usually fatal.4,6 Lyme diseaseassociated heart conditions may be pericarditis, endocarditis, or conduction disorders. Lyme diseaseassociated neurologic conditions can produce behavioral changes or seizures.

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Can We Test Fluids Other Than Serum

Yes, CSF samples can be submitted from horses with neurological signs. The CSF sample needs to be submitted together with a serum sample from the same animal and taken at the same time. The relative increase of antibodies in CSF can indicate local production of antibodies in the CNS. Typically, one or two antibody values are increased more than 2-fold if B. burgdorferi contributes to the neurologic condition.

For other samples, contact the lab first .

Which Vaccines Do Adult Dogs Need

Canine Spectra 10 Plus Lyme Dog Vaccine 1 Dose

Adult dogs need their core vaccines in addition to any noncore vaccines decided upon between you and your veterinarian. A dog vaccination schedule for an adult dog may look like this:

Frequency

No 3-year noncore vaccines are available at this time.

Ultimately, your veterinarian will determine how long a vaccine will work for your pet.

If they are overdue or it is their first time getting a vaccine, your vet may recommend a booster vaccine or an annual schedule in order to assure appropriate protection for your pet.

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Other Canine Diseases Carried By Ticks

Ticks can also carry several other less common but serious bacterial diseases affecting dogs, including anaplasmosis and babesiosis.

Anaplasmosis can involve symptoms similar to those for Lyme disease. Babesiosis can present with a wide range of symptoms, from sudden and severe shock, high fever, and dark urine to a slowly progressing infection with more subtle clinical signs. Diagnosis of both diseases includes blood tests similar to those used to check for Lyme disease.

Sometimes, dogs and people can become sick with co-infection of multiple tick-borne diseases, where more than one type of disease-causing bacteria is transmitted through a tick bite. This situation can make diagnosis and treatment even more challenging and difficult.

Dogs That Stay Mostly Indoors Can Get Ticks And Lyme Disease

Dont brush off flea and tick prevention just because your dog sticks around the house, either. Many of us have diagnosed clinical infection of Lyme disease in dogs that only go outside to potty and spend the rest of the time indoors. Ticks can hitch a ride into the house on humans and other pets, says Dr. Mengel.

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Which Dogs Are At Risk

Ticks are found practically everywhere, from forests to gardens to vegetation on beaches. Tick numbers tend to be higher in certain areas, such as woodland, moorland, rough pasture and heathland. Urban/city parks, especially larger parks where deer are present, are also suitable habitats for ticks. So if you regularly go walking in this type of area, your dog could be at significant risk of picking up an infected tick.

Zoonotic Risk Of Lyme Disease

Dog dies just minutes after receiving vaccination for lyme disease

Dogs cannot directly transmit Lyme disease to people however, they can carry unfed infected ticks into a household where they might feed on humans. In addition, people are often in the same Lyme diseaseendemic areas as the dogs and can independently become infected.1 Increased incidence of dogs with Lyme disease can be used as an indicator for human risk in the same area.6

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Efficacy Of The Vaccine

These vaccines are extremely safe and, in conjunction with tick removal and control, prevent B burgdorferi infection and clinical Lyme disease, including Lyme nephritis.

The anecdotal evidence for this fact is overwhelming, but it has also been shown prospectively in multiple controlled studies in experimental infection and in the field. Following are just a few of many examples of such evidence in the field.

  • Levy showed excellent field efficacy of canine Lyme disease vaccination in 2003.10
  • In 2010, Hebert and Eschner proved the efficacy of the Lyme disease prevention protocol, including vaccination in a large Rhode Island practice.11
  • In a population of guide dogs in New York, implementation of strict tick control and mandatory Lyme disease vaccination regimen reduced the number of Lyme nephritis cases from approximately 10/year to less than 1/year over 7 years.12

What Vaccines Does My Dog Really Need

The Schwarzman Animal Medical Center has been an accredited member of the American Animal Hospital Association since 1976. The AAHAs mission is to simplify the journey towards excellence for veterinary practices. One method of doing so is by developing evidence-based guidelines to help veterinarians practice high quality medicine. AAHA recently convened a task force to update its guidelines on canine vaccination. I will highlight some important features of the revised guidelines below.

Core and Non-Core

The 2022 Canine Vaccination Task Force continued the designations core and non-core vaccines used in previous guidelines. Core vaccines are required for every dog and include: canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus type 2, canine parvovirus type 2, and rabies. Non-core vaccines are recommended for only some dogs and the recommendation is based on the dogs lifestyle, geographic location, and risk of exposure. The word non-core does not imply less important. For example if you live in an area which Lyme disease is prevalent, that non-core vaccine is critical for your dog. In addition to Lyme vaccine, non-core vaccines include: canine leptospirosis vaccine, canine Bordetella vaccine, and canine influenza vaccine.

No Consensus on Leptospirosis Vaccination

Parvovirus: Vaccinate Early and Often

Lyme Disease

Calculate Your Dogs Lifestyle and Vaccination Recommendation

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What To Do If A Tick Head Is Stuck In Your Pet

If you do spot a tick, dont be tempted to use tweezers ticks latch on tightly, and you can remove the ticks body but leave part of the mouth, causing irritation and infection. Instead, your vet can supply you with a specialist tick remover. If a tick is removed within 24 hours, infection can be prevented.

Does My Dog Need A Lyme Disease Vaccine

Nobivac Lyme

Unfortunately, the answer isnât straight forward. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine states that Lyme disease vaccines are not considered part of the core group of vaccines necessary for all dogs. Lyme disease vaccine is primarily recommended for dogs that live or frequently visit areas known for Lyme disease as well as for those living in areas with high potential for tick exposure.

Vaccinating for Lyme disease in sick dogs or those who have urinary protein issues is not recommended. Veterinarians and researchers also debate whether vaccinating a dog that already has Lyme disease is necessary. Some say it will help prevent the dog from becoming infected again, while others worry that the vaccine could cause a serious reaction, making the dog even sicker.

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Blacklegged Tick Life Cycle

Blacklegged ticks, commonly called deer ticks, have a two-year life cycle. Eggs are oviposited in the spring, and larvae emerge approximately one month later. Larvae feed once in the summer, usually on birds and small mammals, at which stage they are most likely to become infected with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria.

Larvae then over-winter, and in the following spring molt into nymphs, which then feed in late spring or early summer.

In the fall, nymphs molt into adults, which usually feed on larger mammals , on whose bodies they mate. Females die after laying their eggs, whereby the two-year cycle begins again.

Infected nymphs feeding on mice or larger mammals such as deer, dogs, or humans and adult ticks, whose higher rate of infectivity may be due to their longevity and repeated exposure to infected mammals and birds, are considered the most likely source of infection for dogs and humans. An infected tick usually must be attached for at least 48 hours before transmission of disease-causing bacteria can occur.489

(Adapted from Greene CE, Straubinger RK, Levy SA. Borreliosis. In: Greene CE, ed. Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat 4th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier 2012: 450-452.4

How Effective Is The Lyme Disease Vaccine For Dogs

The Lyme vaccine for dogs isn’t 100 percent effective. However, Bailey notes that as a general rule, a dog that contracts the disease after being vaccinated will likely have less severe symptoms.

Breakthrough infections are only one reason to keep your dog monthly flea and tick preventiveseven if your dog has been vaccinated against Lyme disease. “Lyme Disease is one of the few tick-borne diseases that we have a vaccine for,” Bailey explains. “There are many others we don’t yet have a vaccine for, such as ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and anaplasmosis, that can be fatal. Moreover, these preventives also cover fleas, which are not only miserably uncomfortable for our pets, but can lead to skin problems and carry diseases, as well.”

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The Lyme Vaccination For Dogs Isnt Foolproof

The shot isnt 100 percent effective, says Dr. Mengel.

But, Dr. Mengel adds, anecdotally, many practices report seeing lower numbers of dogs testing positive for exposure to the bacteria that causes Lyme since using the vaccine in practice over several years.

The Lyme vaccine cannot replace good tick control, because it is not completely effective at preventing Lyme disease, and it does nothing to protect against the many other tick-borne diseases, such as ehrlichiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, says Dr. Brevitz.

Outer Surface Protein A: Transcriptional Expression Biological Function And Diversity

Duramune Lyme Vaccine for Dogs

Outer surface protein A was among the first B. burgdorferi proteins to be identified and characterized . Early analyses of OspA were prompted in part by the simple observation that it was one of the most abundant B. burgdorferi proteins produced during in vitro cultivation. OspA is a 31 kDa surface lipoprotein encoded by a linear plasmid of 54 kb . It is cotranscribed as a bicistronic operon with ospB . While B. burgdorferi strains that lack lp54 have been obtained upon prolonged in vitro cultivation , lp54 is universal among isolates collected from nature and is essential for completion of the enzootic cycle. OspA is selectively produced during spirochete residence in ticks with a transcriptional expression rank relative to all other detectable transcripts of 8th during cultivation and 18th in unfed larval ticks . Upon ingestion of the bloodmeal, ospA transcription is downregulated before terminating at the tick-tissue interface . Gene deletion studies demonstrated that OspA is required for survival in ticks . In the tick midgut, OspA functions as an adhesin and binds to the tick protein TROSPA . The crystal structure of recombinant OspA in complex with the Fab fragment of monoclonal antibody 184.1 was determined at a resolution of 1.9 A . A unique structural organization was revealed that consists of repetitive antiparallel beta sheets with a nonglobular region connecting the globular N- and C-terminal domains.

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Lyme Disease From Tick Larvae

Ticks arent born with Lyme Disease. They too get it from another living organism.

In the spring, ticks lay their eggs. By late summer the larvae hatch and are ready to feed. They wait on the ground for a small mammal or bird to arrive and brush up against it.

The larva will attach itself to the small animal and begin feeding over the next few days. If this animal has Lyme disease, the larva will carry the bacterium in its stomach. Mice and ground-feeding birds often serve as spirochete hosts. When the tick attaches to its next host, the bacterium transfers into the blood of the new host.

Larvae are very hard to detect as they are no larger than a period in a print magazine.

Lyme Disease Isnt As Simple As A Bite From A Tick

I said earlier that Lyme disease is not caused by the tick itself.

While ticks can infect your dog with the Lyme disease researchers have found that infection alone isnt the cause of Lyme disease. In most cases, Lyme disease only occurs when theres a coinfection.

Coinfection means a host has one or more bacteria, viruses, or other infections at the same time.

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Facts On Human Vaccination

There is a race to bring a new human Lyme disease vaccine to market, with some vaccines already in advanced stages of development.4, 5 A previous Lyme disease vaccine for humans had been approved for use in the U.S., but was removed from the market. The observation that this vaccine was unsuccessful due to lack of sales is often misused as an argument against canine Lyme disease vaccination.

The University of Pennsylvanias world renowned vaccinologist, Stanley Plotkin, described the human vaccine situation in 2011: A vaccine against Lyme disease was licensed in the United States in 1998 but was subsequently removed from the market because of lack of sales. I believe that the poor acceptance of the vaccine was based on tepid recommendations by the CDC, undocumented and probably nonexistent safety issues, and insufficient education of physiciansThe fact that there is no vaccine for an infection causing 20,000 annual cases is an egregious failure of public health.6

Can My Animal Get Infected Despite Being Vaccinated

Pet Vaccinations

Yes. Some animals have been infected despite vaccination. The most common reasons are low or short-lasting vaccine antibodies in the individual animal. It is advisable to monitor the vaccine response annually to ensure the animal develops sufficient antibodies in response to vaccination. Vaccine antibodies can be quantified with the Lyme Multiplex assay as early as two weeks following vaccination or anytime afterwards.

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How To Deal With Tick Bites In Cats And Dogs

Dogs and cats are particularly susceptible to tick bites and tick-related diseases, which might not always be easy to detect.

Ensure you check your pets after walks through grassy and wooded areas for any ticks that may have become attached, and remove them with a tick remover. We advise that you thoroughly brush your dog after each walk.

Does Your Dog Need A Lyme Vaccine

Reviewed for accuracy on May 8, 2019 by Dr. Jennifer Coates, DVM

There are two kinds of dog vaccinescore vaccinations and noncore.

Core vaccinations, like rabies and distemper, are required to keep your dog protected from some serious and potentially lethal diseases.

Noncore, or lifestyle vaccines, may be recommended by a veterinarian based on your dogs individual lifestyle or health status.

One of these so-called noncore vaccinations is the Lyme vaccine for dogs.

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Outer Surface Proteins And Ld Vaccine Development

The Borreliella genome encodes a vast repertoire of surface-exposed proteins . Many are differentially expressed in response to environmental variables . To date, only two surface proteins have been successfully developed as subunit vaccine antigens in human or veterinary LD vaccines: outer surface protein A and a laboratory designed outer surface protein C -based recombinant chimeric epitope protein.

How Long After Treatment Should The Horse/dog Be Re

Recent Spike In Lyme Cases Has Pet Owners Turning To Vaccines

Antibodies decrease slowly but gradually after the pathogen is cleared from the hosts circulation. Re-testing should not be performed too early. For horses/dogs with positive values for antibodies to OspF but negative values for antibodies to OspC , retesting should be done 3 months after the treatment was started. For horses with a positive OspC antibody value retesting can be done 6-8 weeks after the treatment started. At the time of retesting, a decrease of antibody levels can be expected in successfully treated animals. Serum antibodies may not have completely disappeared at this time. However, they should have dropped by about 40% of the original positive value.

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If My Animal Is Positive On The Assay Should He/she Be Treated For Lyme Disease

If your animal is displaying clinical signs of Lyme disease and is positive on the Lyme Multiplex assay, it is advisable to discuss treatment options with your veterinarian. If your animal appears healthy, discuss the risks and benefits of treatment and develop a monitoring plan with your veterinarian.

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