Serodiagnosis of Lyme disease in UK dogs

Abstract Lyme disease is a chronic, multisystemic, inflammatory disorder of man and animals associated with infection by the tick‐borne spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme disease was recently reported for the first time in a dog in the UK (May and others 1990). Using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), we have performed a serological survey to investigate the prevalence of antibodies to B burgdorferi in UK dogs. The survey has shown that dogs from many areas in the UK have serum antibodies to B burgdorferi, that the presence of serum antibodies is associated with known exposure to ticks and that some dogs seropositive for B burgdorferi have clinical signs consistent with Lyme disease. High levels of serum anti‐Borrelia antibodies are not diagnostic for canine Lyme disease, but, in association with appropriate clinical signs, they help to confirm the diagnosis in suspected cases.