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Lyme Disease symptoms vary from person to person. (lymes disease lyme's disease lime disease limes disease)
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Tick on dog tests positive for Lyme disease
Veterinarian says early diagnosis and treatment are critical
LAURA JEAN GRANT
The Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY - A tick found on a Cape Breton dog has tested positive for Lyme disease, making it the first case of its kind on the island.
Dr. Rebecca Korven, of the Cape Breton Veterinary Service, confirmed the diagnosis Friday. She said a Shih Tzu dog from Glace Bay came into the clinic in December with symptoms that included sleepiness and a change in the character of her bark.
“The owner had pulled this thing off of her face a week before and she didn’t know it was a tick and she brought it in with her. Luckily she’d saved it and when I examined the dog she had signs of infection, her temperature was high, her lymph nodes were enlarged and they were swelling from where the tick had been,” she said.
Korven sent the tick in for testing and just recently received the results.
“I got the results back that this tick was positive and this was the first case in Cape Breton ever,” she said.
While awaiting those results Korven began treating the dog for Lyme disease and she got better within a week. The Shih Tzu has so far tested negative for Lyme disease but is being regularly monitored and tested.
“She’s doing very well. As far as we know she has no signs of illness but it’s possible that if not all of the bacteria was killed by the antibiotics she could get sick,” she said.
Korven said she’s doing what she can to raise awareness about the disease, as early diagnosis and treatment are critical in treating it.
“I’m trying to educate people a little bit about what to do if their dog gets a tick and how they can help prevent the disease,” she said.
Korven said the Department of Natural Resources is aware of the case and they believe it may be an isolated case and that the risk to animals and humans is low. She, however, is not so sure.
“The chance of these Lyme-infected ticks establishing a population and living here is pretty high,” she said, noting, “(ticks will) attach, feed for a couple of days and then fall off and then they lay eggs and they don’t usually go from a dog to a person. But if a tick is infected with Lyme all of the eggs that it lays would carry Lyme and they can lay 23,000 eggs in one batch so you can see how quickly it can spread to an area.”
Korven’s advice for pet owners is to check their pet regularly for ticks and if they do find one to bring the pet to a veterinarian. She added a vaccine is also available for dogs to prevent Lyme disease.
New Waterford resident Shaun Burke is president of the Nova Scotia Lyme Disease Association and was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2004 by a doctor in Vancouver.
In Burke’s opinion, there is a serious lack of awareness about the disease among the public and doctors in Nova Scotia and many people, himself included, were and are being misdiagnosed.
Now that he has a proper diagnosis and treatment, Burke said his prognosis is excellent but he worries about the many people who are living with Lyme disease but don’t know it.
ljgrant@cbpost.com
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