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Ticks jmcgibbo asked this question on 6/17/2002: Good Morning.... We pulled out a tick from over my dogs eye yesterday. I got the entire tick. It bled for a little while but it was ok. He does not seem to have any more on him. He is 2 years old and never received a lyme vaccination. Should I get this done now. ALso, I have an 11 year old boxer - should he be vaccinated also. Should I also get them Frontline? I am hearing so many pros and cons for the vaccines and frontline that I am confused. We are supposed to take them to the vet today but I am not sure what to do. Please get back to me asap.

beainsc gave this response on 6/17/2002: Vaccinations Not Recommended For Dogs Lyme Disease is a tick born disease which can cause lameness, kidney failure and heart disease in dogs and people. Ticks transmit the disease to humans. Eighty five percent of Lyme disease cases in dogs in the USA are found in nine New England states and Wisconsin. In 1998, there were 28 cases of human Lyme disease & 60 dogs which tested positive in Texas. It is not known how many of these cases were acquired while pets were traveling in other states. Most cases were found in North East Texas. Lyme disease testing with the most commonly used test can give a false positive reaction to normal spirochete organisms in a dogs mouth. The average dog would be at very low risk of contracting Lyme disease. If you travel to endemic areas with your dog, you may still want to consider the safety & effectiveness of Lyme disease vaccine. Dr. Jacobson, Cornell Diagnostic Lab, reported a temporal relationship of 327 dogs which developed polyarthritis after vaccination with Lyme disease vaccine. These dogs did not show antibody titers suggestive of Lyme disease infection. Other causes of arthritis were ruled out. Lyme vaccine has been demonstrated ot cause arthritis in hamsters. There is a class action suit in human medicine for failure to warn people about the possibility of developing polyarthritis from human Lyme disease vaccine. The main antigen displayed by the Lyme disease organism inside the dogs body is Outer Surface Protein B- OSP B. Newer PCR vaccines by Muriel and Schering only contain OSP A antigens. The importance of OSP B & C antigens were discovered after the new vaccines were developed (2, 11) Studies by Dr. Richard Jacobson at Cornell University suggest that the claim that the whole bacterin by Ft Dodge is more protective lacks merit. Dogs vaccinated with the whole cell bacterin had no antibodies to the OSP B or C antigens either. This is because bacteria grown on cell culture to produce the vaccine would not be expressing OSP B or C antigen. Theoretically OSP A antibodies in the blood of an immunized dog are ingested by a tick. This prevents the bacteria from reproducing within the tick and therefore from being injected into the dog, if antibodies are in high enough concentrations. Most Colleges of Veterinary Medicine do NOT recommend Lyme Disease vaccine. Lyme disease prevention should emphasize early removal of ticks. Ticks must be attached to the dog for 24 hours to transmit the disease. Amitraz (Preventick) collars are more effective than Frontline as Amitraz paralyzes the tick’s mouth parts preventing transmission of disease (11). Amitraz tick collars should be used with extreme caution, as they are toxic if chewed on or swallowed by a dog or children. Frontline takes 24 - 48 hours to kill ticks, allowing for the possibility of disease transmission. This is an important aid in tick control, but will not prevent the transmission of tick born diseases like Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Babesia or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Vaccinating pets against Lyme disease does not provide any protection for the owners. • beainsc recommends buying a book with the title, author, or subject: Clinical medicine of the dog and cat

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