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Ticks and the diseases they spread
Ticks are small blood sucking anthropods. The most common tick that we see attaching to dogs and cats (and people) is lxodes ficinus. They begin life as larvae, turn into a nymph and finally reach adulthood. It is the adult tick that bites, hiding the mouth parts under the skin. It swells and turns pale in colour as it feeds turning pale grey. When it is satified in falls off the host to rest and then feed again. Ticks can survivie for more than a year without feeding and can lay dormant for long periods.
The tick's ideal environment is long grass, leaf litter and bracken. They thrive in warm, damp, sheltered places. They are less fond of short grass and dry heather. Hot,dry summers and cold dry winters are good at reducing tick numbers. With climate change our warmer, wet winters and damp summers make life easier for the tick to thrive.
Ticks will suck blood from many varied hosts including mammals, birds and reptiles. They can attatch to any part of the body and they have a painless bite. They pick up diseases from their hosts like blackbirds, sea birds, squirrels and phesants, for example, which are all natural carriers of Lyme disease. They can then transmit diseases by biting into their next host i.e. a dog or a person. They can pass on more than one disease at a time.
LYME DISEASE, BABESIOSIS AND EHRLICHIOSIS
Ticks passing on these diseases in Britain are currently present in Exmoor, The New Forest, South Downs, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Norfolk, Lake District, Yorkshire Moors and Scottish Highlands.
Lyme disease is caused by the borrelia bacteria. Its sypmtoms include, fever, lethargy, swollen lymph glands. complications include arthritis, nervous system problems (Bells Palsy, numbness), irregular heart beat. This is diagnosed by clinical history, examinations and laboratory testing.
Babesiosis (babesia canis and babesia gibsoni)
Come from the babesia parasite which attacks red blood cells. Babesiosis is not only transmitted by ticks but also from a carrier transmitting this on through bite wounds, saliva or ingesting infected blood. The symptoms include loss of appetite, lethargy and in severe cases fever. Complications include haemolytic anaemia, kidney failure and liver problems. This is diagnosed by clinical findings and laboratory testing to issolate the babesia parasite. Animals that recover usually become chronic carriers.
Ehrlichiosis
This is a bacterial attack on the white blood cells. Symptoms include lethargy, fever and can include abnormally low numbers of white blood cells or platelets. This can lead to kidney failure. It is difficult to diagnose as the symptoms can look very much the same as the symptoms of other diseases.
Babesiosis and ehrlochiosis can easily be confused with each other.
Prevention is better than cure. Fortunatley there are several prescription tickicides which can be used prophylacticly. It is also important that if a tick is found on a body it is removed correctly.
A tic remover costs nearly £3 and will correctly lever out a tick in its entiretly without leaving any debris to set up infection. Twisting or pulling out a tick will leave behind its mouth parts which will create an infection site. Interfering with a tick will also cause it to inject more disease borne salivia into its host.
If taking your dog to higher risk tick areas it is strongly advised to use a tickicide before travel. In main land Europe there are more diseases that ticks can transmit.It is mandatory to use a preventative tickicide before travel to certain countries to comply with the Pet Passport scheme.