Geographic Distribution of Tick-Borne Disease and Heartworm

[juliepoudrier]

Someone posted this to the tick list, I think. Anyway I saved it. It's an interactive map that will show you reported incidences of Ehrlichia, Lyme, heartworm, and anaplasmosis by state, and by county in each state. Of course these are only reported cases, but it shows just how widespread some of these diseases are (so when your vet says "We don't have Lyme here" you can point out that perhaps you do.)

 

Interactive US map for tick disease and heartworm

 

J.

[WildFlower]

Thanks Julie. That's pretty cool. And actually my vet has the "Lyme" map hanging in his exam rooms.

[The Good Shepherd]

Thanks Julie

 

My question is this, I know that my county is the most populated in all of NM. Does the map take into account the number of dogs living in the area? Lets say if you have 1000 dog and 10 get HW or you have 100 dogs and 2 get HW? I guess what I am asking is how the map was put together. (This is what happens to a woman who does a lot of research 8 hours a day 5 days a week )

[juliepoudrier]

Claudia,

I have no idea. When you go to the link, you should be able to get to the CPAC website and maybe your questions would be answered there. I view the map more as a thing of general interest, since it's evident that Lyme isn't as local as some vets would have you believe. Then again if you look at Texas, for example, the state has a high number of Lyme cases (relatively speaking), but if you click on the state itself, you see that many counties have no reported cases, so just looking at the state alone could be misleading. But as I said, I'm sure there are many cases that go unreported as well, so I don't think it's meant to be definitive so much as generally educational. But maybe there's more information from CPAC themselves.

 

It looks to me that CPAC got its data from Idexx, so basically it's a self-selected group of dogs that were actually tested at the Idexx lab for the diseases listed. Maybe Idexx's website would have more information.

 

J.

[Sue R]

They did a fantastic job with that map. I'll have to show it to Ed. The doctors have not figured out what his problem was/is but we are quite convinced it is due to a tick bite. Fortunately, after doxy, he is feeling a bit better.

[The Good Shepherd]

Claudia,

I have no idea. When you go to the link, you should be able to get to the CPAC website and maybe your questions would be answered there. I view the map more as a thing of general interest, since it's evident that Lyme isn't as local as some vets would have you believe. Then again if you look at Texas, for example, the state has a high number of Lyme cases (relatively speaking), but if you click on the state itself, you see that many counties have no reported cases, so just looking at the state alone could be misleading. But as I said, I'm sure there are many cases that go unreported as well, so I don't think it's meant to be definitive so much as generally educational. But maybe there's more information from CPAC themselves.

 

It looks to me that CPAC got its data from Idexx, so basically it's a self-selected group of dogs that were actually tested at the Idexx lab for the diseases listed. Maybe Idexx's website would have more information.

 

J.

 

 

Thanks Julie you are a very kind person

[Mary&Sully]

Oh my gosh. Just pulled 8 ticks off my legs and am currently picking them out of the pup's hair and my county is dark green for lyme. I keep a tick morgue just in case one of us does get sick but its still very, very scary. Damn frontline won't work, I just don't know what to do. Its a bad year for ticks.

[painted_ponies]

I found it interesting that SC seems less affected by TBD than her neighbors. I've never found ticks on a single animal on my farm. In thirteen years.

 

Until last week. That's when this little Brittany showed up. Sprouting ticks. I'd pull off one or two, and the next day there'd be three or four more. All I can think is that he came from somewhere else. I've contacted all the shelters and rescues and vets in the area, but no one seems to have lost a Brittany.

 

He was really skittish for several days, but day before yesterday I got a collar on him and tonight he let me put him on a lead and walk him around. So tomorrow we're going to the vet.

[Mark Billadeau]

Oh my gosh. Just pulled 8 ticks off my legs and am currently picking them out of the pup's hair and my county is dark green for lyme. I keep a tick morgue just in case one of us does get sick but its still very, very scary. Damn frontline won't work, I just don't know what to do. Its a bad year for ticks.

Frontline is still working for us in Frederick Co.

 

If the map comes from Idexx data then it is also dependent upon the veterinary market adoption of Idexx products for each region on the map.

[juliepoudrier]

Sally,

You needed a bird dog didn't you?

 

J.

[Gil]

Gil has had 2 ticks this year. I am pretty sure he picked one up in MO. The other could have been MO or could have been AL. Found it after I got home so not sure. If he had a tick disease where would it be reported on the map. Also Jefferson County Al shows 4 cases of Lyme. Think that is under reported. I don't think I would know all the dogs that were reported and I know of at least 4 that live in that county.

Jenny

[juliepoudrier]

Jenny,

As I noted earlier, the information comes from Idexx, so the owner has to take the dog to be tested and an Idexx test would need to be the one used for a positive test to be reported (or at least I assume that's the way it works). So if you test your dog with an Idexx test in the county in which you live, that's where it would be reported, no matter where the dog picked up the tick/disease.

 

As I also noted, the real value of the map is to show that diseases like Lyme and Ehrlichia are much more widespread in this country than many vets believe (my own vet, whom I love, told me "we don't have Lyme here"). So if you look at it as the map showing just cases being identified by Idexx, then one could assume that the actual number of positive cases is *higher* than what is shown on the map. If the map shows that Randolph County, where I used to live, has no reported cases, but Guilford county right next door has reported cases, then I think it would be safe to assume that ticks and deer don't respect county lines and therefore we do indeed have Lyme here. So I don't think you or anyone else should take the map as a definitive statement of the true incidence of Lyme or the other diseases listed, but rather as a general indication of where cases are being found by one testing laboratory. That makes the map useful for, say, convincing a reluctant vet that perhaps a test for TBDs might indeed be advisable.

 

J.

[painted_ponies]

Sally,

You needed a bird dog didn't you?

 

J.

Well, Jamie's a good little dog.

 

And anyway, I think it's fated. My gimme calendar from the feed store this month shows a picture of a Brittany (next month it's Rottweilers ). Then, we went to our new vet today and he's got one assistant named Jamie and another named Brittany!

[Callie]

Mary, I'm with you...May 2011 was a terrible month for ticks for us in West TN. I too keep the ticks in old Rx bottles, labeled with size, where it was pulled off of from Callie's body. I picked off maybe 8 ticks over a course of 10 days in early May this year. Every time I'd check it would be 2 more...and I'm thorough when looking for them...I even make it a game with her....saying "No ticks allowed" while checking her chest and in between her toes and everywhere in between. Now granted this was after I'd take Callie almost every day to an off leash dog park comprised of 130 acres, several lakes and trails. The grass was getting high and we'd run, jump everywhere while playing catch with her frisbee. When we first started going there she would never lay down in the grass, but now that is what she does waiting for me to catch up and throw the frisbee again. BTW we use the Advantix brand. My vet no longer carries it when I needed to restock as he moved over to the multi product which included Heartworm and Flea, but NO Tick protection and I need that for sure. I had been using a 4 pack purchased from a local pet store and called and complained to Bayer that I thought the product I had was not working. He educated me and then sent me 4 new tubes. I wish this county park would purchase some chickens...to eat the ticks. I believe it's some type of bird that eats the ticks but can't remember thier name...or maybe it's a chickens...obviously I'm not a farm gal!