Dog owners in or travelling to North Queensland need to be advised to protect their dogs from tick bites, with the deadly tick-borne disease, ehrlichiosis, recently detected in the area for the first time.
With no vaccine available, a high mortality rate, and rapid spread through dog populations via ticks, ehrlichiosis is a very real threat to the health and welfare of dogs across northern Australia.
Heightening the danger, veterinarians have warned that most tick prevention products aren’t sufficient to protect dogs from ehrlichiosis, because of how quickly the infection can be transmitted following tick bite.
Elanco technical veterinarian, Dr Liisa Ahlstrom said repelling ticks before they bite is essential to ensure dogs are protected against this deadly disease.
“Ehrlichiosis has been described as the most serious threat to canine health in Australia in more than 30 years, and the suffering dogs experience as a result of this tick-borne disease can be utterly devastating.
“A challenge we face is that a single infected tick can transmit the disease to a dog within just three hours of biting – which is faster than all chewable and most spot-on tick products kill ticks.
“This is a huge risk for the many dogs currently receiving tick protection with these products, as their owners may understandably believe that they will also be protected from ehrlichiosis.
“That’s why it’s so important to emphasise that whilst all effective tick protection products are important in helping to reduce the spread of this disease by reducing tick numbers, the key to protecting an individual dog is to stop ticks from biting that dog.”
Dr Ahlstrom said he best protection possible is through using a tick-repelling product such as the Seresto Collar for Dogs from Elanco, which repels ticks and kills ticks on contact, so they don’t need to bite.
“We urge dog owners to ensure their pets and working dogs are protected from this deadly disease, by using a Seresto collar. Seresto kills fleas and controls paralysis ticks for eight months, and controls bush and brown dog ticks and reduces the risk of transmission of tick-borne diseases, including ehrlichiosis, for four months.”
Ehrlichiosis was first reported in a dog in Kununurra, WA in May 2020, and since then has spread at an alarming rate throughout the Northern Territory, the north of South Australia, and most recently into North Queensland.
Ehrlichiosis is carried by the brown dog tick, (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) a species common throughout much of Australia, making it inevitable that the disease will spread further south.
The signs of ehrlichiosis vary and can include fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, weight loss, eye changes, anaemia and bleeding (e.g. nose bleeds, bleeding under the skin). Some dogs develop swollen limbs, difficulty breathing, blindness and neurological signs.
If your customers’ dogs are displaying any of these symptoms, please advise them to take their dogs to the nearest vet immediately.
