TICKS FOUND ON 1 in 3 DOGS IN THE UK
The results of The Big Tick Project were announced by the media at the start of September following a collaboration between MSD Animal Health and Bristol University, this was accompanied by the launch of a new Tick Awareness Month Campaign by TV presenter Chris Packham. Ticks infesting domestic dogs in the UK: a large-scale surveillance programme Research published 7 July 2016 Parasites & Vectors http://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-016-1673-4 The largest study of ticks found on dogs in the UK showed nearly one in three dogs were infested. The Big Tick Project analysed ticks collected by vet practices across the UK and found almost a third of dogs (31%) checked at random during a visit to a vet were carrying a tick. The Big Tick Project saw 1,094 veterinary practices from across the UK participate in the 16 week study. Over this period 12,092 dogs were chosen at random for a tick inspection. Scientists received 6,551 tick samples for analysis. Prof Richard Wall at the University of Bristol said ” We were overwhelmed by the veterinary profession’s support for the Big Tick Project – the vast number of ticks collected and analysed make this a robust study the results of which can only help to further raise awareness of the risk to pets and people from ticks. In Great Britain the distribution of ticks is estimated to have expanded in the last 10 years by 17% and the abundance of ticks to have increased at 73% of locations surveyed.” Surprisingly, dogs that were restricted to urban habitats were no less likely to have ticks than dogs exposed to more rural...RESEARCH GRANT – Enhanced Testing for the Diagnosis of Bartonellosis in Dogs
The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation 07/25/2016 The AKC Canine Health Foundation (CHF), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent, treat and cure diseases in all dogs, announces a second round of new grants awarded through its Tick-Borne Disease Initiative. This comprehensive Initiative addresses important health concerns that include Lyme disease, bartonellosis, and ehrlichiosis, through much-needed research in diagnostics, disease pathogenesis and prevalence. Edward B. Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM, of North Carolina State University, will study “Enhanced Testing for the Diagnosis of Bartonellosis in Dogs.” Bartonellosis is a potentially life-threatening zoonotic disease distributed throughout the world by approximately ten different Bartonella bacteria species. Bartonella bacteria are transmitted to dogs and humans by ticks, fleas, lice, mites, and sand flies. Due to a lack of sensitive and reliable diagnostic tests, definitive diagnosis of bartonellosis in dogs remains a significant problem. Because these bacteria invade cells and infect tissues throughout the body, this chronic intracellular infection is difficult to cure with currently used antibiotic regimens. Dr. Breitschwerdt and his team aim to develop improved blood tests for bartonellosis in dogs that can also be used for world-wide sero-epidemiological prevalence studies, and to establish early and accurate diagnosis. Go to this link to read further on the various awards of grants :- http://www.akcchf.org/news-events/news/tick-borne-disease-initiative-second-round-funding.html Research Program Area: Immunology and Infectious Disease Donate to Support this Grant ABSTRACT Bartonellosis, a zoonotic disease of worldwide distribution, is caused by approximately 10 different Bartonella species. Bartonella are transmitted to canines and humans by ticks, fleas, lice, mites, and sand flies. Dr. Breitschwerdt’s laboratory demonstrated the first evidence for Bartonella infections in dogs in 1993....Lyme Disease and Borrelia species spirochetes.
Michael J Cook Lyme disease was named by Alan Steere to cover an arthritic illness in juveniles in the townships of Lyme and Old Lyme in Connecticut. In 1984 Willy Burgdorfer determined the cause to be an infection with a species of borrelia spirochete subsequently named after him. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has defined Lyme disease as being transmitted by Borrelia burgdorferi carried by Ixodes scapularis ticks. In Europe where the disease was first described by Afzelius in 1910, the definition includes other species of borrelia including B. afzelii and B. garinii, carried I. ricinus and I. persulcatus species of ticks. In 1874 the first cases of Relapsing Fever were reported and the cause attributed to a borrelia species named B. recurrensis carried by the human louse. Between 1874 and 1984 another 17 borrelia species were identified as causing Relapsing Fever. All were carried by soft bodied ticks of the genus Ornithodoros. From 1984 until now 19 species of borrelia spirochetes have been assigned to the Lyme Borreliosis group, all are carried by hard bodied ticks. Based on disease symptoms and records of the presence of only one species in a patient, it is now demonstrated that more than B afzelii, B burgdorferi and B garinii are associated with Lyme disease and Lyme like illnesses. With evidence for 10 species definitively causing disease a more appropriate name is Lyme Borreliosis. The following 2 charts show the assigned date of discovery of 47 species borrelia, and the 19 species currently classed within the Lyme Borreliosis group including a species with the proposed name of B. mayonii...DRUG COMBINATIONS FOR BORRELIA PERSISTERS
A Drug Combination Screen Identifies Drugs Active against Amoxicillin-induced Round Bodies of Borrelia burgdorferi Persisters from an FDA Drug Library Jie Feng1, Wanliang Shi1, Shuo Zhang1, David Sullivan1, Paul Auwaerter2 and Ying Zhang1* 1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA 2Fisher Center for Environmental Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA Although currently recommended antibiotics for Lyme disease such as doxycycline or amoxicillin cure the majority of the patients, about 10-20% of patients treated for Lyme disease may experience lingering symptoms including fatigue, pain, or joint and muscle aches. Under stress conditions such as starvation or antibiotic exposure, Borrelia burgdorferi can develop round body forms, which are a type of persister bacteria that are not killed by current Lyme antibiotics. To identify more effective drugs that are active against the round bodies of B. burgdorferi, we established a round body persister model induced by amoxicillin and screened the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug library consisting of 1581 drug compounds and also 22 drug combinations using the SYBR Green I/propidium iodide (PI) viability assay. We identified 23 drug candidates that have higher activity against the round bodies of B. burgdorferi than either amoxicillin or doxycycline. Eleven of these scored better than metronidazole and tinidazole which have been previously described to be active against round bodies. While some drug candidates such as daptomycin and clofazimine overlapped with a previous screen against stationary phase B. burgdorferi persisters, additional drug candidates active against round bodies we identified include artemisinin, ciprofloxacin, nifuroxime, fosfomycin, chlortetracycline, sulfacetamide, sulfamethoxypyridazine and sulfathiozole. Two triple drug combinations had...
