ABSTRACT:In Europe Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. It presents with a variety of clinical manifestations including heart disease and problems of the nervous system, skin and joints. Lyme carditis occurs in 4-10% of infected humans and is characterized by a plethora of cardiovascular syndromes such as arrhythmia, myocarditis, and pericarditis among others. This article is a case report of a serologically positive (B. burgdorferi s.l.) dog, in which the antibody dynamics correlated with clinical, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic findings of heart disease resembling human Lyme-induced dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Keywords: borreliosis; atrial fibrillation; serology; cardiomegaly; dogsList of abbreviations AF = atrial fibrillation; ALP = alkaline phosphatise; ANA test = antinuclear antibody test; AV = atrioventricular; BID = twice daily; CBC = complete blood count; CDCD-VFU = Clinic of Dog and Cat Diseases, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno; DCM = dilated cardiomyopathy; DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid; ECG = electrocardiography; IgG = Immunoglobulin G; IgM = Immunoglobulin M; PCR = polymerase chain reaction; SF = shortening fraction; SID = once daily; TBE = tick-borne encephalitis; TID = three times daily; VHS = vertebral scale size