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Lyme Disease on the Rise in Dogs

A recent study from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech  has found that one third of deer ticks in Giles and Pulaski counties carry the organism responsible for Lyme disease.

The American Dog tick was once thought to be the region’s most abundant tick, but the deer tick population has increased recently, and can be threatening to both pets and their owners. 

As humans move further and further out into the rural regions, they are putting themselves and their pets at greater risks to contracting the illness. Dr. Mark Freeman is with the Small Animal Clinic at Virginia Tech.

"Humans and dogs are coming into more and more contact with wild species that are carrying the organism, so based on what we’re seeing clinically with more and more cases, is that the organism is spreading and becoming more of a problem in the environment and in the population."

However, Freeman says that people shouldn’t be too quick to worry about the increasing number of patients because there could be other factors besides just an increase in ticks.

"Because we're doing more testing, we're finding more positives. Does that mean that there are really more positive cases or just that we're finding them now?"

  It does remain an unanswered question, but Freeman says that there are simple measures for preventing the spread of Lyme disease, and that begins with tick control.

"As long as you’re doing good tick control, having a positive patient doesn’t necessarily mean that other animals or other people in the household are at risk for exposure."

There is a treatment for the disease, but Freeman says that the clinics are very cautious about treating pets. They don’t want to give treatment to an animal that isn’t infected, because it can make the pets unnecessarily resistant to the antibiotics.  Freeman says that vaccines for Lyme disease are available for canine patients, and they are 100% protective.

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