What Are The Most Common Symptoms Of Lyme Disease In Dogs
Its not easy to detect Lyme disease in dogs, but there are a few signs that can tell you whether you should take your dog to the vet or not: fever, lameness, decreased energy, loss of appetite, and generalized pain.
These symptoms might disappear for some time and then come back again.
Vomiting, diarrhea, increased urination, are symptoms of an advanced stage of this disease that might be affecting the kidneys.
If your dog presents these symptoms, you should take it to the vet as soon as possible.
How You Get Lyme Disease
If a tick bites an animal carrying the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the tick can become infected. The tick can then transfer the bacteria to a human by biting them.
Ticks can be found in any areas with deep or overgrown plants where they have access to animals to feed on.
They’re common in woodland and moorland areas, but can also be found in gardens or parks.
Ticks don’t jump or fly. They climb on to your clothes or skin if you brush against something they’re on. They then bite into the skin and start to feed on your blood.
Generally, you’re more likely to become infected if the tick is attached to your skin for more than 24 hours. Ticks are very small and their bites are not painful, so you may not realise you have one attached to your skin.
Azlocillin Comes Out On Top
The drug, which is not on the market, was tested in mouse models of Lyme disease at seven-day, 14-day and 21-day intervals and found to eliminate the infection. For the first time, azlocillin was also shown to be effective in killing drug-tolerant forms of B. burgdorferi in lab dishes, indicating that it may work as a therapy for lingering symptoms of Lyme disease.
Pothineni and Rajadas have patented the compound for the treatment of Lyme disease and are working with a company to develop an oral form of the drug. Researchers plan to conduct a clinical trial.
Rajadas is also a professor of bioengineering and therapeutic sciences at the University of California-San Francisco.
Other Stanford co-authors are Hari-Hara S. K. Potula, PhD, senior research scientist postdoctoral scholars Aditya Ambati, PhD, and Venkata Mallajosyula, PhD senior research scientist Mohammed Inayathullah, PhD and intern Mohamed Sohail Ahmed.
A researcher at Loyola College in India also contributed to the work.
The study was funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Laurel STEM Fund.
- Tracie White
Also Check: Do All Deer Ticks Have Lyme Disease
Questions To Ask The Doctor About Lyme Disease
If you have an identifiable tick bite but no symptoms have begun, there is a question as to whether preventive treatment should be started. If the symptoms of Lyme disease have started, the question is what antibiotic treatment will be used, by which route it will be administered, and how long it should be taken.
What Causes Lyme Disease
People get Lyme disease when they are bitten by an infected tick. Ticks live in areas with a lot of plant life, such as wooded areas or fields. They sit near the top of grassy plants and low bushes. They wait there for people or animals to brush up against them. Ticks can crawl on your clothes or body for up to several hours or more before attaching to the skin.
Ticks can attach to any part of your body. They are usually found in hard-to-see areas, including the armpits, groin, or scalp. An infected tick needs to be attached to your skin for 36 to 48 hours before it passes the bacteria on to you.
People who spend time in outdoor areas where ticks are common are at higher risk of getting tick-borne diseases.
Also Check: What Does Lyme Disease Do To You
Hiding In Plain Sight
The promising compound has actually been hiding in plain sight. Hygromycin A, an antimicrobial found in soil, was originally discovered in 1953. Scientists then dismissed it as ineffective.
Nobody really cared about that compound ever since because its very weak against regular bacteria, Lewis says. What we discovered is that, yeah, it is very weak against regular pathogens, but exceptionally potent against spirochetes.
Lewis team discovered Hygromycin As potency against spirochetes when screening soil microorganisms for antimicrobial compounds that might be a silver bullet against the spiral bacteria.
We set out to find such a compound that would selectively kill Borreliella burgdorferi, placing a bet, if you will, that Mother Nature had bothered to evolve a compound to selectively take out spirochetes that live in the soils, Lewis says. And indeed it had.
Lyme Disease In Dogs And Other Pets
Household pets can get Lyme disease, too. Typical symptoms in animals include swollen joints and lameness, fever, and loss of appetite. Experts in the FDAs Center for Veterinary Medicine say that dogs with Lyme disease occasionally develop serious kidney disease that can be fatal.
There are ways you can reduce your pets risk for tick bites and Lyme disease. Regularly checking pets for all types of ticks, for instance, reduces the risk of infection for both pet and owner. Avoid allowing your dog to roam in tick-infested areas.
Topical, oral and/or collar products are also very important in preventing Lyme disease in dogs.
There are two basic types of Lyme disease vaccines available for dogs. Talk to your veterinarian to see if vaccination is appropriate for your dog. There is no vaccination for cats, which do not seem susceptible to Lyme disease.
Also Check: How Can I Get Tested For Lyme Disease
How Is Lyme Disease Treated
Lyme disease is most often treated with antibiotics such as doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime for several weeks. Please complete the full course of antibiotics as prescribed, even if your child is feeling better, in order to kill all the bacteria.
If your child doesn’t respond to oral antibiotics, or if the Lyme disease is affecting the central nervous system, antibiotics may need to be given intravenously . This usually doesnt require your child to be hospitalized. In many cases, a nurse can come to your home to administer the IV or teach you or another family member how to do it.
Anti-inflammatory medicine may be prescribed for children who are experiencing pain from arthritis.
Could This Treatment Prevent Chronic Lyme Disease
Chronic Lyme disease has frustrated doctors and patients alike for years. The severe, lingering symptoms, such as chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, arthritis, or cognitive difficulties, have disrupted patients lives and treatments have been elusive.
But what if there was a way to prevent acute Lyme disease from progressing to the longer-term version?
Thats the premise that has driven Kim Lewis research. And now, the university distinguished professor of biology and director of the Antimicrobial Discovery Centerat Northeastern says he has found a targeted treatment for acute Lyme disease that could do just that.
Our educated guess is that it will prevent chronic Lyme, Lewis says. Along with co-lead authors Nadja Leimer, Xiaoqian Wu, and Yu Imai , Lewis describes the revelation ina paperpublished Wednesday in the journal Cell.
Don’t Miss: Can Lyme Disease Cause Weight Gain
What Is Post Treatment Lyme Disease
Post Treatment Lyme Disease represents a research subset of patients who remain significantly ill 6 months or more following standard antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease. PTLD is characterized by a constellation of symptoms that includes severe fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, sleep disturbance, depression, and cognitive problems such as difficulty with short-term memory, speed of thinking, or multi-tasking. In the absence of a direct diagnostic biomarker blood test, PTLD has been difficult to define by physicians, and its existence has been controversial. However, our clinical research shows that meticulous patient evaluation when used alongside appropriate diagnostic testing can reliably identify patients with a history of previously treated Lyme disease who display the typical symptom patterns of PTLD.
Can Lyme Disease Be Prevented Or Avoided
The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to avoid being bitten by ticks. When you are outdoors, follow these guidelines:
- Avoid areas that are wooded, brushy, or have tall grass.
- Walk in the center of trails.
- Use an insect repellent with at least 20% DEET. It can be put on clothing or sparingly on the skin. Dont apply it to the face or hands of children.
- Treat clothing, tents, or other gear with repellents containing 0.5% permethrin.
- Wear light-colored clothing. This makes it easier to see and remove ticks from your clothes.
- Wear a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. Tuck your pant legs into your socks or boots for added protection.
After you get home, check everything and everyone for ticks.
- Bathe or shower as soon as you can to wash off any ticks that have not attached to you.
- Check your entire body for ticks. Use a mirror for places you cant see. Check your children and your pets. Common tick locations include the back of the knees, groin area, underarms, ears, scalp, and the back of the neck.
- Check any gear you used, including coats, backpacks, or tents.
Tumble dry clothes or blankets on high heat in the dryer for 10 to 15 minutes. This should kill any ticks. If clothes are dirty, wash them in hot water and dry on high heat for 60 minutes.
Also Check: Colloidal Silver Lyme Disease Treatment
Stage : Early Localized Disease
Symptoms of Lyme disease usually start 1 to 2 weeks after the tick bite. One of the earliest signs of the disease is a bulls-eye rash.
The rash occurs at the site of the tick bite, usually, but not always, as a central red spot surrounded by a clear spot with an area of redness at the edge. It may be warm to the touch, but it isnt painful and doesnt itch. This rash will gradually fade in most people.
The formal name for this rash is erythema migrans. Erythema migrans is said to be characteristic of Lyme disease. However, many people dont have this symptom.
Some people have a rash thats solid red, while people with dark complexions may have a rash that resembles a bruise.
The rash can occur with or without systemic viral or flu-like symptoms.
Other symptoms commonly seen in this stage of Lyme disease include:
Antibiotics May Prevent Lyme Disease
June 12, 2001 — New findings released Tuesday show that an antibiotic taken within 72 hours of being bitten by a deer tick carrying Lyme disease can prevent people from developing the illness.
Only about 3% of people who are bitten by ticks will develop Lyme disease, which is characterized by persistent fatigue and pain. But the new study confirms that the risk is highest for people bitten by ticks that haven’t yet reached the adult stage and are at least partially engorged with blood. Although the study will not be published until next month, The New England Journal of Medicine released it early because of the treatment potential.
“The important thing I think is that Lyme disease can be prevented,” says the study’s author Robert B. Nadelman, MD, of New York Medical College and the Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y.
He tells WebMD that although antibiotics won’t be recommended for everyone with tick bites this summer, knowing they work gives doctors and patients a much-needed addition to their prevention methods.
The best-known ways to prevent Lyme disease are avoiding areas known to be infested with deer ticks wearing clothing that covers your skin when you are potentially going to be exposed to ticks and checking your body, hair, and clothes carefully for any signs of a tick after being in the woods or other areas where ticks are prevalent.
Show Sources
Recommended Reading: Lyme Disease Blood Test Name
How Is It Treated
The main treatment for Lyme disease is antibiotics. These medicines usually cure Lyme disease within 3 weeks of starting treatment.
It’s important to get treatment for Lyme disease as soon as you can. If it goes untreated, Lyme disease can lead to problems with your skin, joints, nervous system, and heart. These can occur weeks, months, or even years after your tick bite. The problems often get better with antibiotics, but in rare cases they can last the rest of your life.
Potential Treatment For Lyme Disease Kills Bacteria That May Cause Lingering Symptoms Study Finds
Screening thousands of drugs, Stanford scientists determined that in mice, azlocillin, an antibiotic approved by the Food and Drug Administration, eliminated the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Deer ticks are vectors of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.Scott Bauer/USDA Agricultural Research Service
For decades, the routine treatment for Lyme disease has been standard antibiotics, which usually kill off the infection. But for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness, the antibiotics dont work, and lingering symptoms of muscle pain, fatigue and cognitive impairment can continue for years sometimes indefinitely.
A new Stanford Medicine study in lab dishes and mice provides evidence that the drug azlocillin completely kills off the disease-causing bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi at the onset of the illness. The study suggests it could also be effective for treating patients infected with drug-tolerant bacteria that may cause lingering symptoms.
This compound is just amazing, said Jayakumar Rajadas, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory at the Stanford School of Medicine. It clears the infection without a lot of side effects. We are hoping to repurpose it as an oral treatment for Lyme disease. Rajadas is the senior author of the study, which was published online March 2 in Scientific Reports. The lead author is research associate Venkata Raveendra Pothineni, PhD.
Don’t Miss: Will My Dog Die From Lyme Disease
What Should You Do If You Get Bitten By A Blacklegged Tick
Ticks attach themselves to the skin. Most humans are infected through the bite of immature ticks called nymphs. Adult ticks can also transmit Lyme disease bacteria. Their bite is usually painless, so you may not know you’ve been bitten.
If you notice a tick has attached itself, remove it as soon as possible. Removing ticks within 24 to 36 hours usually prevents infection. Follow these steps to learn how to properly remove a tick.
Summary Of Study Characteristics
Additional details regarding the strengths and limitations of included publications are provided in .
Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
The review is unclear regarding whether study selection was conducted in duplicate if the reviewers did not conduct study selection in duplicate then this could introduce bias into the review, with reduced quality and confidence in its results. Grey literature was not searched and content experts were not consulted, which may have omitted relevant data and introduced publication bias. This omission is of particular importance since publication bias was not assessed. The sources of funding for each included trial were not discussed and risk of bias from the selection of the reported result from multiple measurements or analyses was not assessed. These review characteristics may increase bias in: study selection search strategy risk of bias assessments and their impact on the meta-analysis, interpretation of results, and discussion sources of funding and conflicts of interest, which therefore decrease the confidence in the results of the systematic review.
Non-Randomized Study
Outcome measurement may have been influenced by knowledge of received intervention since the outcome assessors were aware of the intervention received by study participants and may therefore decrease confidence in the results of the study.
Guidelines
You May Like: Can Late Stage Lyme Disease Be Cured
How To Safely Remove A Tick
Not all ticks carry Lyme disease, and some ticks carry other diseases. To avoid infecting yourself, never crush a tick with your fingers. For more information on the safe removal, disposal and identification of ticks visit CDC.gov/ticks.
Features Of Tick Bites And Lyme Disease:
- Not everyone who develops Lyme disease remembers the tick bite because the deer tick is very small and its bite can go unnoticed
- Some bites have a reaction similar to a mosquito bite, where the area will become itchy and red. Other bites have no reaction at all making them difficult to recognize.
- Symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, a bulls-eye rash at the site of the bite or elsewhere, joint pain or swelling, body aches, muscle aches, general fatigue, headache, and stiff neck
Don’t Miss: How To Cure Lyme Disease In Dogs
Can I Prevent Lyme Disease
Not all cases of Lyme disease can be prevented. But you can protect yourself from tick bites. If you go into an area where ticks live, be sure to:
- Stay in the middle of the trail instead of going through high grass or the woods.
- Wear closed shoes or boots, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants. Tuck pant legs into shoes or boots to prevent ticks from crawling up legs.
- Use an insect repellent.
- Consider treating your clothing and gear with permethrin to repel ticks.
- Wear light-colored clothing to help you see ticks more easily.
- Shower and wash hair after being outside to remove ticks before they attach.
- Remove any ticks you find right away.
How To Prevent Lyme Disease In Children
It is important to prevent Lyme disease because there are no vaccines available. Moreover, people cannot develop immunity against the disease, so they may get infected more than once.
To prevent Lyme disease, children should
- Wear light-colored clothes covering the entire body, socks, and closed-toe shoes.
- Wear a hat to prevent ticks from entering the scalp.
- Avoid moist and shaded places where tick infestation is possible.
- Always stay on a clear trail where there are no shrubs or branches.
- Use insect repellents. Products with DEET are safe on the skin and can repel ticks. However, they may not be able to kill them. Look for repellents that have not more than 30% DEET, as large amounts are unsafe for children. Ensure that children wash off the DEET after returning indoors.
- Use products with permethrin only on the clothing and not on skin.
- Check and remove the ticks after returning indoors. The ticks may be hiding behind the knees, underarms, between fingers and toes, belly button, neck, in and behind the ears.
Ticks may also be found in your backyard, so keeping it clean by removing leaves and cutting tall grass is important. Pest control may also be done to reduce ticks in your garden.
Read Also: Lyme Disease And Neurological Problems