In my last piece, I wrote that I was going to find a nice home for Jenny, here in the UK. Well, about 10 days after arriving in the UK, all thoughts about re-homing had to be put away as a serious emergency came up: Jenny started having seizures. I’ve never seen a dog have a seizure before and needless to say it was quite scary. After 3 fits over a 24 hour period, she was admitted to the vet hospital and thoughts of giving my little dog away had turned into ‘my little dog might die’. Luckily, the vet was able to stop the fitting and after various tests, we have confirmed that she has a tick-borne disease called Erchiliosis. The disease can affect various organs and with Jenny it is likely to be in her nervous tissue, causing the seizures.
What is Erlichiosis? Erlichiosis is a bacterial infection that is transmitted by infected ticks. It is endemic across the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia and America but has not been present in the UK. While Jenny was in Sierra Leone, she frequently picked up ticks and so she must have contracted the disease before coming over. One article I read said that the infection can transfer from the tick into the dog within 3 hours. The infection can cause a range of symptoms since it can affect various organs. Diagnosis Jenny and I have been so lucky and privileged to have an excellent vet and parasitologist friend called Paul who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. If it had not been for Paul, Jenny’s outcome could have been very different as my vet here in the UK had not come across Erlichiosis before. In fact, my vet here first told me we had checked for Elichiosis and that therefore Jenny did not have it. Paul, being experienced with Erlichiosis since he has seen it a lot in Kenya, toiled over Jenny’s blood results late into the evening, and messaged me to say that he thought that the abnormalities (for example anaemia, low platelets and abnormal numbers of white blood cells) were indicative of a possible Erlichiosis infection. He advised me to chase up the vets and get Jenny on some doxycycline antibiotics (100mg daily with food) immediately while we continued with a more conclusive test called the PCR test. Paul even recommended that I sent a quick email over to two top experts on Erlichiosis, a Prof. Day at Bristol University, UK and a Prof. Harrus in Jerusalem, Israel, both of whom replied and agreed with Paul’s thinking. A few days later, we had the PCR test back which showed that Jenny had the Erlichiosis bacteria present in her blood. This confirmed it. Prognosis Jenny will be on antibiotics for six to eight weeks. She took anti-seizure drugs for three weeks and has just come off them. She will need repeat blood tests regularly over the next few months but we can already see that her blood results are improving. There’s a chance that her Erlichiosis may not go away completely as it can remain latent and reoccur. She may also have epilepsy or seizures in the future. Alternatively, we could be lucky and she may be fine, or we may be able to control it so that she manages a normal life. She appears to be her happy and energetic self for the moment. Erlichiosis in the UK Since the Pet Passport Scheme was introduced in the UK in 2000, which permitted dogs and cats to enter the UK without quarantine, more and more people are bringing their pets from abroad and Erchiliosis cases in the UK are on the rise. Out of the recorded cases in the UK, I believe that in all but two, the dog contracted the disease abroad, and then exhibited the symptoms when back in the UK. Since the disease is only transmitted by species of tick that survive in hot climates, ticks that are endemic to the UK do not carry the disease. However, my vet told me this week that, as a result of warmer temperatures, foreign tick species are starting to survive in the UK, once they have arrived from abroad. Therefore, there is a slight potential that the disease could be transmitted from an infected dog to another dog in the UK, by a surviving foreign tick. In fact, I read that there have been two recorded cases of Erlichiosis close to London in dogs that had not been abroad. This is a worrying occurrence. What are some infections to consider if your dog has been outside of the UK? - Erlichiosis (from ticks) - Leishmaniasis (from sandflies) - Heart Worm (from mosquitoes) - Babeseosis (from ticks) - Anaplasmosis (from ticks) - Hepatazoonosis (from ticks) - Borrelia (from ticks and lice) - Lyme Disease (from ticks - found in UK) Prevention Many of these diseases are tick-borne and so tick prevention is key. Dogs should be checked carfully for ticks, and any ticks removed carefully, washing your hands after - some of these diseases can also be passed from ticks to humans. Vets also recommend a good quality regular spot-on tick treatment (I used to use supermarket brands that seemed ineffective in Sierra Leone) or tick collars which stop ticks latching on.
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AuthorSarah Morris rescued a starving 2 month-old puppy from a ditch in Sierra Leone, West Africa - one of Africa's poorest countries - in early 2017. They've been together ever since and continue to travel and adventure around the world. ArticlesCategories |