Lynda Adame
6/16/96
What Is It: Babesiosis is a tick-borne hemoprotozoan (blood) disease. The organism is called Babesia, the disease is called Babesiosis. Species: Babesia canis, Babesia gibsoni
Primary Vector: Brown Dog Tick (must feed a minimum of 2-3 days to transmit)
Other Vectors: Deer Tick, blood transfusion, contaminated needles and instruments, transplacental.
Diagnosis: There are three tests being used by Veterinarians to detect infection:
1) The IFA (Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Assay) test is used to detect the presence of antibodies to the disease in a dogs blood serum. This test will determine a titer level; less than 1:40 is considered Negative (minimal exposure), a titer above 1:80 is considered Positive for an active infection. The IFA is considered
the most reliable test for detecting infection.
2) The Giemsa Smear is used to locate the actual organism in the dogs blood. Despite appropriate staining technique and intensive film examination, the organisms frequently cannot be found.
3) The PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for the presence of the organisms DNA in the dogs blood. This test is not widley available. Titer info: Titers counts double: 1:10, 1:20, 1:40, 1:80, 1:160, and so on. A high titer can be caused by repeated exposure to the disease, a large number of active organisms in the blood, or a better immune system response of a specific dog. (i.e. a dog responds naturally with more antibodies than another dog).
Titer is an indication of exposure to a specific foreign protein. It does not indicate that there are active organisms in the blood. Comments: Babesiosis is a cyclical disease, similar to Malaria. Dogs that recover from the initial infection show variable and unpredictable patent periods alternating with dormant periods. The clinical signs vary greatly depending upon the stage of the disease, the age and immune status of the dog, and complications from other infections.
Phases:
Acute
This phase is of short duration, and is where the dog is initially infected with the disease. If the dog does not die outright from the infection, then it moves on to the next phase.
Subclinical
This phase can last months or years. It is characterized by a fine equilibrium between the parasite and the immune system of the host. This equilibrium can be disturbed by a number of things: environmental stress, additional diseases/infections (especially Ehrlichiosis), immunodeficiency, spleen removal, surgery, stress, hard work, immunosuppressive treatment, use of corticosteroids (Prednisone is a no-no).
The dog may exhibit few clinical symptoms during this phase, beyond intermittent fever and loss of appetite. If the equilibrium is disturbed, the parasite will begin to slowly grow in number and the dog will move into the next phase. Infected Greyhounds are often in this phase when they are adopted.
Chronic
If the dogs system remains unable to clear the parasite, it enters this final phase. The most obvious initial signs to an owner are a cycle of: lethargy, loss of interest in food, and a gradual loss of body condition especially evident around the eyes and along the spine. Other symptoms are: upper respiratory problems – coughing or labored breathing, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, ulcerative stomatitis (sores in the mouth), edema (swelling), abdominal swelling (ascites), bleeding under the skin or a rash (purpura), low White Blood Cell count, clotting problems, joint swelling, back pain, seizures, weakness, increased liver enzyme, low Platelet count, hyper reflective eyes, enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged spleen, septic shock, depression.
Misdiagnosed as: hemolytic anemia, kidney failure, vague blood disorder, thrombocytopenia, “doggie aids”, autoimmune disease, Von Willebrands disease, leukemia, DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation – severe clotting disorder).
Treatment
The current drug of choice (Imidocarb Dipropionate). It is a chemo-therapeutic agent that is being experimentally tested on Babesia infected Greyhounds across the U.S. (it is now FDA approved. jp)
Imidocarb is the least toxic of all of the anti-babesial drugs, and the success rate is stated in research papers to be 95 – 98%. There are also un-substantiated claims of Doxicycline and/or Clindamycin being used to treat Babesia.
**
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:04:47 -0700
From: Don and Suzanne Stack <yumadons@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: MEDICAL: minimizing immidocarb (Imizol) reaction
<< Are there any tricks for minimizing the reaction to Imidocarb?>>
Yes. Have your vet give the injection IM (intramuscular) into the lumbar (back) muscles, just as you do with the Immiticide heartworm injection. IM minimizes the chance of a sterile abscess. Pull up the immidocarb with one needle, then put on a fresh 22 g 1″ needle to inject, so that there is no stingy residue on the needle. Greyhounds tolerate the “fresh needle” injection into the lumbar muscles well (they will scream bloody murder if you inject it into a hindleg). The owners can give her 1 mg per pound of Benadryl (diphenhydramine) orally an hour before the injection (don’t wait til you get to the vet and have them give injectable Benadryl, it’s just one more stingy injection for her). The one greyhound I treated who had an allergic-type reaction (swollen face) on the first injection didn’t react to 3 subsequent injections. It wasn’t a major reaction, we just noticed it on the way out the door and gave her Benadryl.
Suzanne Stack, DVM
Erhliciosis
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Lynda Adame greyhoundadmin@abap.org 1/6/00
What Is It: Ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne rickettsial infectious blood disease. The organism
is called Ehrlichia, the disease is called Ehrlichiosis.
Species: Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia risticii, Ehrlichia equii
Primary Vector: Brown Dog Tick (must feed a minimum of 2 -3 days to transmit) for E. canis. risticci is transmitted by ingesting the larvae of certain species of flukes (parasitic flatworms, order Trematoda).
Other Vectors: Deer tick, blood transfusion, contaminated needles/instruments, transplacental.
Diagnosis: There are three tests being used by Veterinarians to detect infection:
The IFA (Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Assay) test is used to detect the presence of antibodies to the disease in a dogs blood serum. This test will determine a titer level; less than 1:40 is considered Negative (minimal exposure), a titer above 1:80 is considered positive for an active infection. The IFA is considered more reliable than the Giemsa Smear for detecting exposure/infection.
The Giemsa Smear is used to locate the actual organism in the dogs blood. Despite appropriate staining technique and intensive film examination, the organisms frequently cannot be found.
The PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for the presence of the organisms DNA in the dogs blood. A positive PCR means the dog has an active infection. This test is not widely available.
Titer info: Titers counts double: 1:10, 1:20, 1:40, 1:80, 1:160, and so on.
A high titer can be caused by repeated exposure to the disease, a large number of active organisms in the blood, or a better immune system response of a specific dog. (i.e. a dog responds naturally with more antibodies than another dog)
Titer is an indication of exposure to a specific foreign protein. It does not indicatethat there are active organisms in the blood.
Comments: Ehrlichiosis is believed to go through patent and dormant periods, much likeBabesiosis does. It has been the experience of people who have owned manyEhrlichia infected dogs, that this disease does not remain dormant, it slowly andsteadily grows within the dogs system. If used soon enough, both Tetracycline and Doxicycline (at variable treatment lengths) have a 98% success rate atcuring dogs of Ehrlichiosis.
Phases:
Acute –
This phase is of short duration, and is where the dog is initially infected with the disease.
If the dog does not die outright from the infection, then it moves on to the next phase.
Subclinical –
This phase can last months or years. It is characterized by a fine equilibrium between the parasite and thimmune system of the host. This equilibrium can be disturbed by a number of things: environmental stress, additional diseases/infections, (especially Babesiosis), immunodeficiency, spleen removal, srgery, stress, hard work, imunosuppressive treatment, use of corticosteroids (Prednisone is a non-no). The dog may exhibit few clinical symptoms during this phase, beyond intermittent fever and loss of appetite. If the equilibrium is disturbed, the parasite will begin to slowly grow in number and the dog will move into the next phase. Greyhounds are often in this phase when they are adopted out.
Chronic –
*If the dogs system remains unable to clear the parasite*, it enters this final phase. The most obvious initial signs to an owner are a cycle of: lethargy, loss of interest in food, and a gradual loss of body condition especially evident around the eyes and along the spine.
Other symptoms are: viral tumors on the face/mouth/muzzle, hemorrhaging even when blood count looks normal, clotting problems, low or high calcium level, seizures, muscle wasting, skin infections, neurological signs (repetitive obsessive actions, or palsy), diarrhea, low Platelet count, urine too alkaline, vomiting, hyper reflective eyes, low White Blood Cell count (thrombocytopenia), anemia, glomerulonephritis, bleeding from the nose or eyes, ocular signs, arthritis, weakness, pallor, incontinence, pneumonia, cough, kidney failure, increased thirst and urination, incoordination, neck or back pain, bleeding under the skin or a rash (purpura), swelling of the legs or joints, enlarged lymph nodes, irreversible bone marrow suppression.
Misdiagnosed as: reticulosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, brucellosis, blastomycosis, thrombocytopenia, endocarditis, immune mediated disease, myelophthisis, cancer of spleen or liver, Valley Fever, plasma cell myeloma, leukemia.
Treatment: Doxicycline at 11 mg/kg b.i.d. for 2 – 4 weeks, or longer.
OR
Tetracycline 22 – 33 mg t.i.d. (oral) for 2 – 4 weeks or longer.
Imidocarb Dipropionate can be used to treat chronic cases of Ehrlichiosis that do not respond to Tetracycline or Doxicycline.
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Lab for testing. Offers discount to greyhounds.
Protatek Reference Lab
ATTN: Dr. Cynthia Holland
574 E. Alamo St. Suite 90
Chandler, AZ 85225
(480) 545-8499</paraindent>