My Pet World: New initiative promotes early diagnosis of Lyme disease

By Steve Dale, Tribune Content Agency on Sep 10, 2014

Marks has sent clients to their doctors after diagnosing Lyme in the family dog, and sure enough, some of those clients have subsequently been diagnosed with the disease.

Children are particularly susceptible simply because they may play on the grass and are lower to the ground than adults. Also, the ticks may be so small they may not be noticed. Parents, and even medical professionals, often mistake Lyme for something else.

That's exactly what happened to then 17-year-old Alyssa Paulsen five years ago in Albany, NY.

Tucker, Paulsen's then 4-year-old Schnoodle, began stumbling around, was sometimes off-balance and walked into things. Tucker also appeared weak. The veterinarian diagnosed Tucker with Lyme disease in one office visit, and prescribed antibiotics. In a month, the dog was back to normal.

Around the same time, Alyssa was feeling sick.

"No one thought that if my dog was exposed to Lyme, I might be, too," she says. "I sure wish that idea had occurred to someone."

Doctors couldn't pinpoint Alyssa's problem. Lyme disease is often called "the great imitator." In people, diagnosis based on symptoms alone can be challenging.

With an outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) at her school, it's seemed logical that this was Alyssa's problem. She was placed on an antibiotic that might have also been used to treat Lyme, but was taken off the medication too soon for effective treatment of Lyme. While her symptoms faded for a time, they came back with a vengeance. Before Lyme was diagnosed for certain, the list of mistaken diagnoses grew to include anorexia, fibromyalgia and a skin disease called scleroderma.

Her condition worsened to the point that she was bedridden. About a year and a half after her symptoms first appeared and Tucker was diagnosed and treated, Lyme was finally targeted as the cause of Alyssa's illness. It was a doctor with a special interest in Lyme who made the diagnosis. The long-term effects of Alyssa's recurring Lyme symptoms would likely have been avoided with an earlier diagnosis.

Alyssa calls the partnering of the AVMA and AAP "just perfect." She adds, "This initiative will help pets, but make a huge difference to children. I know all too well that getting them diagnosed early is really important."

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