By Pete Wedderburn
Outbreak in Essex, dogs with a serious disease imported from continental Europe.
Less than a year ago, I wrote about one my my patients, a Beagle, who I was treating for a life threatening tick-borne disease called Babesiosis. I saw the dog in my clinic in Ireland, a few days after he had been imported from Poland.
Many other vets have also seen this condition in imported dogs, but the situation has now taken a turn for the worse: an outbreak of babesiosis has taken place in Essex, affecting local dogs who have not travelled abroad.
Babesiosis is now affecting dogs that have not travelled overseas
The three affected dogs were from separate households, but they are all regularly exercised in the same uncultivated park area of local land. The vets dealing with the cases say that they have recovered the type of tick that carries this disease from two of the dogs. The vets also report that there has been a recent increase in the number of dogs being rescued from abroad into their area.
This outbreak is probably the first of many around the country, and it’s no surprise. Up until 2011, it was compulsory for imported dogs to be treated for ticks before entering the UK and Ireland. When this requirement was dropped – to comply with EU freedom of movement regulations – vets warned that outbreaks of exotic tick diseases were likely to follow. It took five years, but now it’s happening.
Vets warned that if tick treatment on importation was stopped, imported diseases would follow
Babesiosis is a life threatening disease, but with the right treatment, dogs survive. Up until now, vets only needed to consider this as a possible diagnosis in imported dogs.
The wider public health risks from exotic tick-borne infections and the need for tick controls for pets entering the UK will be kept under review
UK Government
Now it has to be considered as a possibility in any anaemic dog: if the diagnosis is missed, dogs could die. More worryingly, there have been reports of human infections with the same Babesia organism.
It’s time to review the lack of tick treatment for imported dogs
The fact that the UK is separated from mainland Europe by a body of water has served the country well as a form of protection from infectious diseases for thousands of years. Until very recently, controls on animal movements remained strict to ensure good disease control.
The disease can affect dogs that have travelled abroad, and even ones that haven’t CREDIT: GETTY
At the time when compulsory anti-tick treatments were stopped in 2011, the UK government said “the wider public health risks from exotic tick-borne infections and the need for tick controls for pets entering the UK will be kept under review.”
Well, the predicted importation of a serious exotic disease has now happened. Perhaps the government can now tell us what “under review” means, and what will now be done in response to this disease outbreak. It may already be too late.