Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Puppies born to Lyme-positive dog test positive from mom's antibodies
By Eschner, Andrew K·Published in Veterinary therapeutics : research in applied veterinary medicine·2008·Merial Limited, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Effect of passive immunoglobulin transfer on results of diagnostic tests for antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in pups born to a seropositive dam.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A litter of 12 puppies born to a mother dog with Lyme disease tested positive for Lyme disease antibodies when they were just one week old, raising concerns about whether they were actually infected. Further testing showed that the puppies likely had received antibodies from their mother through the placenta, which can cause false positive results on the Lyme disease test in very young pups. This means that while the puppies tested positive, they might not actually have Lyme disease themselves. It's important for breeders and new puppy owners to understand this when interpreting test results.
People also search for: puppy Lyme disease test positive · what does a positive Lyme test mean for puppies · Lyme disease in newborn puppies
Abstract
The event that 8 of 12 pups born to a Lyme borreliosis-positive dam tested positive on a commonly used in-hospital Lyme borreliosis test kit at 1 week of age prompted breeder concern about the possibility and implications of transplacental Lyme borreliosis infection. Almost 2 weeks after the initial serologic test results were obtained, blood was collected from the puppies for comprehensive testing. Assessment of the findings indicate the possibility that passive transfer of maternally derived antibody to the in vivo expressed C6 peptide of Borrelia burgdorferi can temporarily render pups serologically positive for antibodies on the in-hospital C6 Lyme borreliosis antibody test kit when the test is run on very young animals.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19003779/