How is Lyme disease diagnosed in horses?
In people, Lyme disease is called the “great imitator”. The same may be said of trying to diagnose this disease in horses. In the horse, Borrelia burgdorferi may cause clinical signs of disease which resemble other diseases or the organism may be present and cause no clinical signs of disease. In addition, this spirochete is extremely difficult to isolate from a live horse. So, in order to diagnose a horse with Lyme disease, common causes of the clinical signs of disease must first be eliminated. After ruling out other possible causes of disease, veterinarians use blood tests to determine exposure of a horse to the Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete. This is done by checking for antibodies in the serum. Two different types of lab tests are used to measure the level of serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi: the ELISA and Western blot. Most horses need to have both blood tests performed in order for a veterinarian to determine whether the horse has been exposed to Borrelia burgdorferi or
