Survey on the subject of equine Lyme borreliosis.

Abstract

According to the results of a questionnaire on equine Lyme borreliosis addressing veterinarians in Germany, the existence of the disease was confirmed by more than half of the 118 participants. Practitioners who regarded Borrelia burgdorferi as a pathogen of horses seemed to be more sensitized in terms of the number of annually diagnosed cases as well as the frequency of occurrence of tick infestation with equine patients or prophylactic treatments against ectoparasites by horse owners. Chronically poor performance and diverse orthopaedic problems were the clinical symptoms most often leading to a Lyme borreliosis suspicion. The tentative diagnoses were predominantly confirmed by serology. Antibiotics (and anti-inflammatory agents) were mainly used for therapy. Whereas horse owners repeatedly asked for examination of their horses, and some veterinarians asserted equine Lyme borreliosis to be an underestimated problem in the horse population, others stated the disease was often enough misdiagnosed.