Equine Lyme Disease: What You Need to Know

Learn how horses contract Lyme disease, what clinical signs to watch for, how to treat it, and more.
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Lyme disease in North America is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. B. burgdorferi survives in a small rodent and Ixodes spp. tick cycle. Horses and many other mammals can become infected during tick feeding. Generally, 24 to 48 hours of attachment are required to transfer B. burgdorferi from the tick to the mammalian host.

Female adult Ixodes spp. ticks are believed to be primarily responsible for transmitting B. burgdorferi to horses, while in humans the smaller and harder to see nymphs are responsible for more infections. Several strains of B. burgdorferi exist and prior infection might not provide cross-protective immunity against other strains. Ixodes ticks may simultaneously harbor other pathogens (e.g., Anaplasma phagocytophilia) causing co-infections in many horses.

B. burgdorferi infection in horses is common in several areas of North America. Horses in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states have a high seroprevalence for B. burgdorferi, as do horses in areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and extending into southern Canada. Infected horses also are reported in regions of California and sporadically throughout other areas of North America. Both human and equine B. burgdorferi infections are expanding geographically.

A wide variety of clinical signs have been attributed to B. burgdorferi infection in horses, but cause and effect have been difficult to document in most cases. Clinical signs most often attributed to equine Lyme disease include stiffness and lameness (generally in multiple limbs), muscle tenderness, increased sensitivity to touch and sensation (hyperesthesia), lethargy, and behavioral changes. Muscle wasting, pain upon palpation of the topline and occasionally ataxia can also occur. Infection of the nervous system (neuroborreliosis), uveitis, dermal inflammation mimicking lymphoma, and synovitis are documented; all occur with a characteristic lymphohistiocytic inflammatory response

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