INFECTION by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease, is becoming more recognisable and more common in regions in which types of ticks (Ixodes spp.), which carry the bacterium, are endemic.
Lyme disease is referred to as a vector-borne disease, because the spread of the bacteria relies on the tick (the vector) to transmit the disease to various host animals when it feeds. It is thought to be the most common disease spread by ticks in the northern hemisphere and commonly occurs in the spring and early summer.
Within the UK, research in horses has observed high levels of seropositivity (presence of the antibodies that combat the disease) in East Anglia and on the south coast, but low seropositivity in Newmarket, Yorkshire, Scotland and Ireland.
Similar trends have been seen in human medicine and in dogs. Not all horses with antibodies develop signs, and those clinical signs that are evident are often described by
