The veterinary profession is doing an amazing job of continuing pet health care while keeping risk to staff and clients to a minimum during the COVID-19 outbreak. Part of this care is continued routine parasite prevention treatment for cats and dogs, which remains vital. Many pet owners, though, may not consider ticks a risk while we are all under lockdown. Ironically, as an outdoor parasite risk, the odds of exposure to ticks are becoming higher as a result of lockdown and the time of year.
One of the things that is keeping us sane in our lockdown routines is our daily hour of exercise, which for many of us will include walking our dogs. New Government clarification states that we can drive short distances to enjoy this brief bonanza of daily outdoor activity and many of us will seek out green leafy areas to walk in as a break from our indoor lives. Such activity, however, will bring us into contact with ticks, which will be starting to peak in their activity due to near perfect weather conditions. Months of persistent rain followed by wall-to-wall sunshine has led to high humidity levels, with rapid growth of grass and seasonal plant life. Even if humidity levels drop off in a prolonged dry spell, lush vegetation will mean lots of questing sites for ticks and microclimates they can remain active in. We may be tempted to walk off paths with our dogs or be forced to briefly, to ensure social distancing, and dogs off leads will almost certainly explore in the undergrowth, being exposed to ticks as a result.
This makes tick protection vital while we are all out enjoying our daily exercise. Lyme disease incidence in the UK human population continues to rise and increased tick exposure will lead to a higher risk of infection in dogs as well. Tick-borne encephalitis virus has also arrived on our shores which can cause tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), a potentially fatal disease in dogs and humans alike. While these risks need to be kept in perspective (1 case per 10 000 hours of woodland activity in the case of human TBE), sensible precautions are needed to reduce the risk of tick-borne pathogen transmission.
The US centre for disease control primary strategy for tick avoidance when enjoying the great outdoors is ‘stay on the path’, and this is good advice. Contrary to popular opinion, UK ticks do not leap from trees, run around, or jump on their hosts. They need to attach as potential hosts brush up against undergrowth where the ticks are questing. This makes vegetation free paths a largely tick free zone. Keeping dogs on leads will help to limit their foraging in the undergrowth, but inevitably some dogs will go for a wander into the tall grass or bracken. In these cases, an effective tick preventative product that rapidly kills or repels and kills ticks is essential. None of these products are 100% effective however, so informing clients on how to check for ticks, remove them safely and send them for identification is also important. Every intrepid rural lockdown walker should leave the house armed with a tick removal device and shouldn’t be afraid to use it!
We should take advantage of that 1 hour of blissful freedom in the spring sunshine each day and a daily walk for our dogs is an enriching and important part of their daily routine. We all need to remember though that while we're in lockdown, the tick, which is second only to the mosquito in transmitting pathogens, is not.