Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Tick-transmitted infections found in sick dogs and cats in the UK
By Shaw, S E et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2005·School of Clinical Veterinary Science, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Molecular evidence of tick-transmitted infections in dogs and cats in the United Kingdom.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 120 sick dogs and 60 cats in the UK were tested for tick-borne infections after showing symptoms like fever, anemia, and joint pain. The tests found that some dogs and cats had infections from the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi (which can cause Lyme disease) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. This study is the first to confirm that cats in the UK can naturally get infected with Borrelia. However, the researchers did not find a clear link between these infections and the specific symptoms the pets were experiencing.
People also search for: dog fever tick infection · cat joint pain tick disease · Lyme disease in cats UK
Abstract
PCR analysis was used to determine the prevalence of tick-transmitted infections in 120 systemically ill dogs and 60 cats recruited over a period of three months from 52 veterinary practices in the UK. The animals had not travelled outside the UK and had one or more of the following clinical criteria: acute or recurrent pyrexia, anaemia and/or thrombocytopenia, polyarthritis/muscle pain, splenomegaly/lymphadenopathy, and intraocular inflammation with systemic signs. Blood samples from the animals were tested for the presence of DNA from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum by using simple PCR targeting. B. burgdorferi sensu lato was detected in five dogs and two cats, and A. phagocytophilum was detected in one dog and one cat. These results provide the first molecular evidence of naturally occurring B. burgdorferi sensu lato infection in cats in the UK and confirm that A. phagocytophilum infection is present in cats. There were no statistically significant associations between the infections and the clinical signs shown by the dogs and cats.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16299364/