Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Vet Population Medicine & Diagnostic Science
Non Technical Summary
What is the current issue or problem that the research addresses and why does it need to be researched? Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the US. Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. It is a zoonotic disease affecting humans, dogs, and horses. Bacteria are transmitted to hosts by infected Ixodes ticks. B. burgdorferi causes persistent infection that is believed to last life-long in untreated animals or people. Clinical signs of Lyme disease appear usually several months or even years after infection with B. burgdorferi. Antibiotic treatment of Lyme disease is often successful early after infection but becomes less effective as the infection persists. We used the new Lyme Multiplex Assay available at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) at Cornell University (http://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/sects/Serol/) to determine the incidence of new infection in horses in 2011 in NY State. Results suggested that B. burgdorferi infected ticks are spreading from their original endemic focus in the northeastern state to a broader area. We also observed an increased public interest in Lyme disease during the past 1.5 years. The AHDC receives about 6000 phone calls from veterinarians on Lyme disease per year and had several requests to provide information about Lyme to newspapers, lay journals and scientific media. Equine veterinarians and clients frequently raised questions about better prevention against infection with B. burgdorferi. Lyme vaccines for horses are not available. Equine veterinarians in Lyme endemic areas often use Lyme vaccines approved for dogs. It is unknown how well these vaccines work in horses and if they induce protective antibodies. What basic methods and approaches will be used to collect and produce data/results and subsequently inform target audiences? We will determine antibody induction by Lyme vaccines in horses. Serum antibodies (vaccination markers) to B. burgdorferi will be evaluated by a new serological assay, the Lyme Multiplex Assay available at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University. We will also test whether commercial Lyme vaccines protect horses from infection with B. burgdorferi. Serum antibodies (infection markers) will be evaluated in horses that are naturally infected after vaccination. Through the methods mentioned above, what ultimate goals does the project hope to achieve? Most importantly, this project will improve equine health and well-being. The outcomes will provide veterinarians, horse breeders, owners and stakeholders in Lyme endemic areas with scientific information about the best available vaccination strategy for horses. In areas where Lyme disease is newly emerging, the work can outline options for disease prevention.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1: to determine antibody induction by Lyme vaccines in horses. Serum antibodies (vaccination markers) to B. burgdorferi will be evaluated by the Lyme Multiplex Assay at the AHDC. Objective 2: to test whether commercial Lyme vaccines protect horses from infection with B. burgdorferi. Serum antibodies (infection markers) will be evaluated in horses that are naturally infected after vaccination.
Project Methods
Objective 1: To determine antibody induction by Lyme vaccines in horses, we will vaccinate 3 groups of horses (n=7 per group) with the 3 commercial Lyme vaccines for dogs (1 vaccine per group). Non-vaccinated horses (n=7) will serve as controls. Vaccines and boosters will be given based on the vaccine supplier's recommendation (see below for additional comments). Serum samples will be obtained before (day-7, day -1) and after vaccination (days 5, 8, 14, 21, 28, and then monthly until 1 year post vaccination). Serum samples will be measured using the Lyme Multiplex assay. Objective 2: To test whether commercial Lyme vaccines protect horses from infection with B. burgdorferi, horses will be naturally infected with B. burgdorferi around 5-6 months after vaccination was started. If the vaccine does not prevent infection, we expect OspC antibodies to appear/increase 2-3 weeks and antibodies to OspF 4-6 weeks post infection (p.i.). In addition to the samples above, samples for antibody testing will be taken bi-weekly for the last 7 months of the project to determine if infection occurred. This will be done by detection of antibodies (infection markers) using Lyme Multiplex testing. Infection can be determined based on antibody values alone. The lack of development of clinical disease is not required to determine protection from infection. However, horses will be evaluated for clinical signs at each sampling time point.