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New Tick-borne Disease Found
Tufts researchers show that in some cases, what looks like Lyme could be a completely different illness transmitted by the same bug
By Lindsey Konkel
February 28, 2013
Under the microscope, Sam Telford surveyed the tiny, spiral bacteria floating in spinal fluid taken from an 80-year-old woman. They looked very similar to the spirochete bacteria that can cause Lyme disease. But in fact, he had discovered yet another public health threat—a brand new disease that people can get from the same ticks that transmit the Lyme bacteria.
“We’ve known that this bacteria existed in the Northeast in deer ticks, but there was little data linking it to human disease” until now, says Telford, an expert on tick-borne diseases and a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “We just needed the right patient to confirm the presence of the disease.”
The rest of the article is at:
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/new-tick-borne-disease-found
Although the article is about the disease being present in humans, not dogs, this piece, "This latest research raises the question of whether patients with atypical Lyme disease—those who have symptoms but whose blood doesn’t test positive for Lyme—may actually be infected with B. miyamotoi, he says. Both are treated with the same course of antibiotics." is certainly worth considering when a dog is symptomatic, but doesn't test positive for Lyme.
Tufts researchers show that in some cases, what looks like Lyme could be a completely different illness transmitted by the same bug
By Lindsey Konkel
February 28, 2013
Under the microscope, Sam Telford surveyed the tiny, spiral bacteria floating in spinal fluid taken from an 80-year-old woman. They looked very similar to the spirochete bacteria that can cause Lyme disease. But in fact, he had discovered yet another public health threat—a brand new disease that people can get from the same ticks that transmit the Lyme bacteria.
“We’ve known that this bacteria existed in the Northeast in deer ticks, but there was little data linking it to human disease” until now, says Telford, an expert on tick-borne diseases and a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Global Health at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. “We just needed the right patient to confirm the presence of the disease.”
The rest of the article is at:
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/new-tick-borne-disease-found
Although the article is about the disease being present in humans, not dogs, this piece, "This latest research raises the question of whether patients with atypical Lyme disease—those who have symptoms but whose blood doesn’t test positive for Lyme—may actually be infected with B. miyamotoi, he says. Both are treated with the same course of antibiotics." is certainly worth considering when a dog is symptomatic, but doesn't test positive for Lyme.
