My Pet World: Lyme disease a continual issue in dogs, and humans
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Lyme disease is diagnosed more readily and responded to differently in animal health compared to human health. Two veterinarians and two experts on tick-borne disease in people spoke on Sept. 10 at an unusual forum in Syracuse, N.Y. It was unusual because it is rare for medical professionals on the animal and human side to share information on the same stage.
About 100 people attended the event, including veterinarians, veterinary technicians, physicians, researchers and nurses and even people living with tick disease.
Dr. Richard Ford, professor emeritus at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State, began with an appropriately honest statement, which is identical on the human side, "When it comes to Lyme disease, there are more questions than answers," he said.
Though symptoms in dogs and people are thought to be greatly different, Dr. David Cameron, who has researched and treated Lyme in people for 28 years, said they may be more similar than we think.
Classically, people with Lyme might have aching joints. The same is true with dogs, and they act lame -- sometimes one leg, and at other times another leg (called transient lameness). Other identical symptoms are a fever, and acting generally depressed. Ford said there are no apparent symptoms in about 80 percent of dogs testing positive for Lyme.
However, maybe there's more to it than that, according to Cameron. Other symptoms in people may merely be difficult to identify in dogs, including headaches, general achiness, confusion, dizziness and subtle neurological signs. "If only dogs could talk," Cameron said.
Of course, they can't talk, so veterinarians are more dependent on testing than in human medicine.
"We see that blue dot, [by using the IDEXX lab blood test, which quickly detects the presence of the antibody responding to Lyme infection with a blue dot], we may want to treat, especially if there are no clinical signs (symptoms)," Ford said. If treatment is pursued, immediately a course of antibiotics is prescribed.
Cameron, who is the co-author on human Lyme Disease Management Guidelines, noted confirmation of Lyme, and corresponding treatment aren't so clear cut in human medicine. Although some Lyme patients in the crowd suggested they wish treatment in human medicine could be as proactive as veterinary medicine.
Susan Wong, research scientist at the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center, Division of Infectious Diseases and professor at State University of New York Department of Public Health said, "People may say the screening tests (for Lyme) are awful; I say they're only awful if practitioners don't know how to use them. Testing immediately after infection isn't as effective as waiting or re-testing. Also, there are invalidated tests out there."
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