A tick found on a bird dog in Montana could forewarn of Lyme disease spreading into the state.
What's happening?
A Bozeman-based hunter recently alerted local health officials in the state to a tick that he found on his French Brittany dog after a pheasant-hunting excursion. The Spokesman-Review reported the news, explaining that the tick was plucked from the dog and shipped to a National Institutes of Health facility, which confirmed it was a deer tick, a Lyme disease-carrying species that has traditionally been found on the East Coast and in the Midwest.
In addition, the lab found that the tick may have actually been carrying Lyme disease and relapsing fever, another tick-borne disease.
Health officials said that the evidence isn't enough to prove that Lyme disease has moved into the state, however.
"What it does say is, 'Well, guess what? We should be on the lookout for these Ixodes scapularis ticks in Eastern Montana,' which is where this tick was from, as well as other parts of the state," Marshall Bloom, a scientist with Rocky Mountain Laboratories, the Montana-based lab that first received the tick and sent it to the NIH, told the Spokesman-Review.
Why is this tick important?
Deer ticks have long made themselves at home in the East and Midwest, but they are expanding their range westward, largely due to rising global temperatures that allow them to remain active and survive for longer as the number of days with warm enough temperatures increases slightly, scientists say.
In people, Stage 1 Lyme disease can cause symptoms including fever, headache, extreme tiredness, joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains, and swollen lymph nodes, according to the Mayo Clinic. Without treatment, the disease can progress to Stage 2, with more serious symptoms like immune-system activity in heart tissue that causes irregular heartbeats.
Stage 3 leads to more severe consequences that can last for months and in some cases years, potentially causing permanent joint, heart, or neurological damage.
In dogs, the disease can cause lameness, fever, swollen lymph nodes and joints, and a kidney disease called Lyme nephritis that can lead to edema, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes death, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Montana isn't the only place on the alert as deer ticks continue to expand their range outside of their normal territory. For instance, Lyme disease risk has doubled in the Canadian province of Quebec and tripled in Manitoba between 2000 and 2015, according to one study.
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Absolutely 👍 What can I do to prevent Lyme disease in myself and my pet?
The best way to avoid Lyme disease is to avoid ticks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages people to walk in the middle of trails to avoid these tiny external parasites and keep legs covered. Another preventative action is spraying footwear, clothing, and camping gear with insecticide that includes 0.5% permethrin — though as always, avoid resorting to chemicals when possible and look to this option more for times when engaging in serious tick risks.
There are already a number of medicines on the market that kill ticks that have bitten dogs before they can spread Lyme disease. Make sure to invest in one of these medications to protect your dog. Meanwhile, scientists are working on a new tick-repelling drug for humans that works similar to the chewable tablets we give our dogs.
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