Emerging diseases in northern Novel tick-borne diseases in pets are beginning to emerge in northern Europe, according to speakers at a recent f i r um held in Amsterdam. Michael Holland reports

OWNERS of dogs and cats who take their animals abroad under the new Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) should be encouraged to remain vigilant for tick infestation, accord- ing to speakers at the recent Merial International Scientific Forum on Tick-borne Diseases of Dogs and Cats, held in Amsterdam from February 27 to March 1.

Tick-borne disease pathogens of companion animals not only cause paralysis, toxicosis, irritation and allergy to animals, but also represent a growing public health concern to humans, said Professor Frans Jongejan, of the Division of Para- sitology and Tropical Veterinary Medicine at the Faculty of Veteri- nary Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

The pathogens may result in acute fatal illnesses, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, as well as chronic debilitating diseases, such as hepato- zoonosis, ehrlichiosis, borreliosis and bartonellosis. Both Lyme borreliosis (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato) and granulocytic ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia phagoyytophilu) have emerged as zoonotic diseases in Europe.

Emerging pathogens Owners who take their dogs to southern Europe are particularly at risk, said Professor Jongejan. ‘Dogs in southern Europe often carry Ehrlichia canis, Babesia canis and Hepatomon canis simultaneously, and these infections are regularly intro-

BSAVA Presidency: 2001 to 2002

The Board of the BSAVA has accepted that Craig Harrison no longer feels able to accept the nomination as President of the Association for 2001 to 2002 for personal reasons. Craig has had a long and distinguished career with the Association and the Board would like to thank him for his work on behalf of the BSAVA.

duced into north-western Europe by dogs bitten by infected Derma- centor or Ripicephalus ticks during visits to endemic areas,’ he said.

Dr Monika Zahler, of the Institute for Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology at the University of Munich, confirmed that Babesia appears to be an emerg- ing pathogen in Germany. Molecular studies had revealed outbreaks of a strain of Babe&, previously confined to the Pyrenees, among German dogs that had travelled there with their owner, and had returned with the infection and disease. ‘No single drug therapy is known to be effec- tive in eliminating completely these parasites from the bloodstream,’ she said. ‘Because of the generally per- sistent anaemia in dogs, there is a risk of these small piroplasms becoming established endemically.’

Dr H. E. Carter

Henry Ernest Carter, CBE, DVetMed, MRCVS, who was a Past-President of the BSAVA from 1972 to 1973 and Editor of the Journal of Small Animal Practice from 1980 to 1987, died on February 3. A tribute will be published in next month’s JSAP.

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Speakers at the forum on tick-borne diseases of dogs and cats, held in Amsterdam in February. (clockwise from top left) Professor Frans Jongejan, Dr Monika Zahler, Professor Ed Breitschwerdt and Ms Susan Shaw. Pictures: Victor H. Sterel

Professor Ed Breitschwerdt, Pro- fessor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, said that veterinarians were well placed to contribute to both veterinary and human health since they often saw diseases in animals that subsequently became clinically manifest in humans. ‘If you want to know about what’s

CONTENTS

Emerging diseases in northern Europe 205

Foot and mouth disease: implications for dogs 206

Challenges In companion animal welfare 206

Infectlous diseases manual for the clinician 210

Petsavers Petsavers awards and residencies 212

WSAVA News Improving the genetic health

National Pet Week 213

Diary of events 214

Editor: Frances Barr Division of Companion Animals, Universlty of Brlatoi, bngford House, Bristol, North Somerset BS40 5DU

of our canine companions 212

JOURNAL OF SMALL ANIMAL PRACTICE VOL 42 APRIL 2001 205 -

Correction

The two photographs of canine cases of leishmaniasis used to illustrate the BSAVA Scientific Information Document on Imported Diseases (BSAVA News, February 2001) should have been credited to Susan Shaw, of the University of Bristol. The error is regretted. In addition to the BSAVA SID, useful information relating to imported diseases can be found in an In Practice article (1999, Volume 21, pp 482 to 491) written by Alexander Trees and Susan Shaw

206 -

important in tick-borne diseases in human medicine in the future, just look at the veterinary history 20 to 30 years ago,’ he said.

Professor Breitschwerdt said ticks in different regions or locali- ties transmit different pathogens, and a given tick species may trans- mit a particular pathogen in one part of the world but not in another. ‘Since many tick-transmit- ted infections result in a prolonged subclinical course and more people are travelling with their animals, there is a potential for animals to become ill months or years after moving to an area in which the disease is not endemic and where veterinarians are less familiar with the disease manifestations,’ he said.

Multiple pathogens Veterinarians faced yet a further problem since simultaneous infec- tion with multiple tick-borne pathogens, such as Ehrlichia, Bartonella, Rickettsia and Babesia species, appeared to be common, particularly in dogs with extensive tick exposure, making it increas- ingly difficult for clinicians to attribute infection with definitive causation. ‘One organism rarely, if ever, induces disease in our patients. If we find one infection, then we should be looking for others,’ said Professor Breitschwerdt.

Most tick-transmitted diseases can be treated effectively providing they are rapidly diagnosed. The Acarus laboratory at the University of Bristol’s Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences now offers UK veterinarians a diagnostic service for tick-borne diseases in companion animals coming back from Europe.

Ms Susan Shaw, head of Acarus and senior lecturer in dermatology and applied immunology at Bristol, told the meeting that UK clinicians were likely to see more animals presenting with ‘exotic’ tick-borne infections as a result of both climate change and PETS. However, she said, there was ‘limited knowledge of diagnostic testing techniques, their application in clinical cases and in interpretation of results. This is exacerbated by the fact that first choice drugs for several of these

Foot and mouth disease: implications for dogs

On March 3, MAFF issued the following guidelines for dog owners exercising their animals in areas known to be infected with foot and mouth disease:

‘Any dogs in an area infected with foot and mouth disease must be kept under control by their owners. This means that they must either: be kept in a kennel or enclosure from which they cannot escape, or be effectively secured to a fixed object by a collar and chain, or they must be accompanied by and under the effectual control of the owner or a responsible person authorised by the owner.

‘If you are in an area declared to be infected with foot and mouth disease you must not let your dog run free; if you do, it may be seized by the local authority or the police and treated as a stray. In addition, an inspector may serve a notice on anyone in the infected area to keep a dog under specific controls. Dogs which are kept under proper control are not prevented from being moved. Certain sporting activities involving dogs are not allowed in areas infected with foot and mouth disease. If you feed your dog bones, please dispose of the bones carefully once your dog has finished with them so that wildlife cannot gain access to the bones. Cats are not affected.’

Updated information about foot and mouth disease can be found on the MAFF website at www.maff.g0V.uk

diseases are not licensed for use in action by animal owners. Professor cats and dogs in the UK.’ Breitschwerdt stressed that ‘Min-

Although all speakers at the imising or eliminating tick infesta- forum agreed on the importance of tions in companion animals is managing such infections when perhaps of greater importance to they arise, most ernphasised the the pet-owning public today than at importance of effective preventive any previous time in history.’

Challenges in cornDanion animal welfare Thefollowing report is an extractfi.om a lecturegiven at the 2000 WSAVAFEGIVA World Congress by Ray Butcher on rece+t of the WSAVA Waltham International Award for Service to the Profission

IN 1990, the World Health Orga- nization (WHO) estimated the world‘s dog population to be 500 million, of which 75 per cent were regarded as strays. These may directly injure people or livestock, cause road traffic accidents, adversely affect environmental hygiene and transmit disease to people and their pets (notably rabies). The dogs themselves may also be malnourished and diseased.

A ‘stray’ might simply be any ani- mal found in a public place without appropriate identification. In some areas, pet animals may be allowed to roam freely for part of the day to forage for food (so called ‘latch-key’ dogs) and in others the dog may simply be regarded as part of the village community (‘community dogs’). Dogs living entirely indepen- dently (feral) may also exist. Any control programme must recognise the difference between ‘owned’ and ‘unowned‘ animals and devise

methods to deal with either group. Unfortunately, municipalities

often turn to methods of mass destruction. These have been shown to be ineffective since the size of an ‘unsupervised population is very much governed by the avail- ability of food and so reaches a critical ‘holding capacity’. Mass slaughter stimulates migration into the area, and allows the surviving animals to breed more successfully because of the improved availability of food.

To address these problems, par- ticularly with regard to the threat of rabies, WHO and the World Soci- ety for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) jointly produced guide- lines on population management of dogs and cats. In essence, this required a combination of five aspects:

Identification and registration; Legislation and enforcement; Neutering;

JOURNAL OF SMALL ANIMAL PRACTICE VOL 42 APRIL 2001