Ticks are not only unsightly, they also can transmit infectious diseases such as ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, and piroplasmosis to horses. Severe infestations can cause skin irritations and even anemia (a decrease of healthy red blood cells).
The crooked little bacterium that causes Lyme disease is causing quite a stir in the equine community.
Lyme disease is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi that is spread to some mammals via the bite of specific hard-bodied ticks. Also known as borreliosis, it is widely considered the most important insect-borne bacterial infection in North America. But it is unknown whether ticks transmit the bacterium to horses and cause disease or because the two coexist.
Editor’s Note: Updated July 7, 2008, with original information from Dr. Rick Mitchell. Quotes in the original version did not accurately reflect Dr. Mitchell’s comments.)
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
Everyone wants their horses to be healthy. Ticks are carriers of Lyme disease, for which there is no currently licensed equine vaccine available. Pay careful attention to your horses and monitor them for ticks. Lyme disease can also occur in humans,
Current tests for Borrelia burgdorferi, a tick-borne spirochete (a spiral-shaped bacterium) that causes Lyme disease in people, horses, dogs, cats, and cows, often take several days to complete and can sometimes lack definitive answers fo
A workman on the site of Arsenal’s old stadium in North London might have found evidence to back up a piece of club folklore.
It was long rumored that a horse and cart had fallen into a pit while the original North Bank stand of Highbury
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Even though Jimmy Hoffa’s remains weren’t found, the Justice Department paid $160,000 to the owners of a Michigan horse farm to replace a barn the FBI removed last summer, records show.
Records released to The Detroit News under
Veterinary internal medicine is a growing specialty that boasts nearly 400 large animal internal medicine specialists, many of them focusing on horses. In a time when humans seek out experts in varying medical fields, it’s only logical that we seek
Lyme disease is a problem more commonly thought to occur in our canine and human friends than horses. However, occur it does, and it can have a wide range of signs and symptoms. This disease is a perplexing and confusing one to diagnose and trea
We have a horse on antibiotics for Lyme disease. Will the stress from the trip cause a flare-up in this disease?
However, some horse-troubling insects and parasites become more active during late summer and fall. Unchecked, they can be an annoyance, stress a horse’s energy reserves during the winter months, or cause illness or death. It is up to you to protect
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We don’t tend to give external parasites–creepy little critters like mites, lice, and ticks-a lot of consideration in our day-to-day horse management, but they can have just as much impact on our equines’ health as the internal parasites (worms and
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