Ticks and infection

Ticks are well designed to transmit disease agents such as viruses, bacteria and protozoa. They attach securely to their hosts, thereby facilitating the effective transmission of pathogens. Ticks are known to cause serious diseases not only in tropical and semi-tropical regions, but increasingly also in temperate climates and urban environments. Moreover, infection with multiple tick-transmitted pathogens can occur in an individual animal following heavy exposure to ticks.

For more details please see the chapter Tick-Borne Diseases at www.cvbd.org.

Major tick-borne diseases

Tick-transmitted pathogens can lead to severe infections in dogs, but also in other mammals. The most relevant canine tick-borne diseases are described separately:

• Lyme borreliosis
• Babesiosis
• Anaplasmosis
• Ehrlichiosis
• Rocky Mountain spotted fever

Tick control

Apart from babesiosis and borreliosis, there are no protective vaccines available to prevent dogs from the above-mentioned infections. Preventing ticks from attachment to the dog’s skin and biting is the best way to reduce the risk of tick-borne diseases. advantix^® has the proven ability to prevent tick-borne diseases.

Since most outdoor activities are associated with a certain exposure to ticks, prevention measures to avoid a direct contact need to be taken. If a tick has attached, it should be removed immediately and carefully to avoid a possible pathogen transmission.

For more details please see the chapter Tick Control.

Treatment

The treatment of transmitted diseases is challenging for a variety of reasons. Therapy with a single chemotherapeutic agent might not be sufficient to eliminate infection. Poor or partial responses to single-agent chemotherapy might also reflect the presence of coinfection by two or more pathogens.