Canine Lyme borreliosis.
Lyme borreliosis is now the most commonly reported tick-transmitted disease in humans and is an important disease in dogs. Case reports of canine Lyme borreliosis have appeared in the literature during the last 6 years, but a complete description of the disease still is not available. Until an accurate diagnostic scheme is developed, the disease will remain incompletely understood. A nonlocalizing polyarthropathy is the most commonly described clinical manifestation of canine Lyme borreliosis, but other syndromes probably also exist. The difficulty in making a diagnosis is a result of the fact that dogs do not develop a characteristic skin lesion to mark the beginning of their disease, and many dogs become seropositive but never develop clinical manifestations. Also, Borrelia burgdorferi has been isolated from the blood of healthy dogs, which suggests that detecting a spirochetemia may not have diagnostic significance. Newer diagnostic tests are being evaluated, but at present the diagnosis of canine Lyme borreliosis should be one of exclusion. After other common illnesses are ruled out, serology and response to antibiotic therapy help suggest a diagnosis. Once the disease is accurately diagnosed, efficient therapeutic schemes will be developed based on randomized therapeutic trials. In addition, vaccines are being developed. Currently, without the ability to diagnose the disease accurately, their efficiency can not be demonstrated adequately. Future findings surely will change our understanding of this disease.
Greene
R T
RT
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Institut für Bakteriologie und Immunologie, Giessen, Germany.
D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000635:transmission*; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*