Officials warn of new tick-borne infections

Lyme disease is a common concern for pet owners, but officials around the world are warning of several tick-borne illnesses that, while not yet widely discussed, are dangerous both to people and their pets.

Officials in Japan are warning pet owners about Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne infection that has a fatality rate of about 30% , according to Dr. Masayuki Saijo, director of Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

“We have recently found that domestic cats and dogs show similar symptoms of the virus as humans when they are infected and the fatality rate in cats exceeds 50%,” Saijo told the London-based Telegraph, which reported on this issue.

“We have identified several cases in Japan in which pet owners have been infected by their pets and at least one case in which a vet died after being bitten by an infected cat,” Saijo said.

Also in Asia, the Nipah virus, carried by bats and pigs, has caused human outbreaks and has “serious epidemic potential,” officials said.

“Twenty years have passed since its discovery, but the world is still not adequately equipped to tackle the global health threat posed by Nipah virus,” said Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, which recently co-led a Nipah conference. Hatchett said that while outbreaks of Nipah have so far occurred in South and Southeast Asia, the virus has serious epidemic potential because the bats that carry the virus are found throughout the tropics and subtropics, where more than 2 billion people live. Reuters has the full story.

There are currently no drugs or vaccines for Nipah, officials said.

Meanwhile, in North America, officials are warning of another tick-borne infection called anaplasmosis.

The virus, carried by black-legged ticks, hasn’t shown up much in humans, but an increasing number of animals are catching the infection, according to officials in Nova Scotia. One veterinary clinic reported seeing several cases during the past month.

“There’s no vaccine, so it really is about prevention,” Dr. Gwen Mowbray-Cashen told Truro News. “It’s treatable but it can be expensive.”

“Some people vaccinate for Lyme and don’t think they need a preventative, but the Lyme vaccine only works against Lyme, not anaplasmosis,” said another doctor. “Anaplasmosis acts very similarly to Lyme, and it can appear the animal just isn’t feeling well, but the faster it’s treated the better the animal does.”