In a message dated 11/29/2002 8:54:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< I know here in the states there is a new test kit that tests for both Ehrlichiosis & Heartworm called "SNAP" not sure what the accronym stands for. >> I recently had a very sick Berner boy whose SNAP came back high positive for Lyme when he first entered emergency care. His symptoms were more like Ehrlichiosis, bleeding gums, high liver enzymes, etc. Blood was sent to NCSU for full titers which all came back negative. Took about a week for the results. The doxycycline treatment didn't hurt him, but fortunately the ER vets were thorough and continued to search for the cause of his illness which at best guess at this point is a bacterial infection. In the future I will treat if the SNAP is positive and the dog responds quickly to the doxy, but if I get repeated positives and don't have a symptomatic dog, I may invest in the full titer, and based on the recommendation of the ER vets, NCSU has the most reliable results. Carol Lingley Ijamsville, MD
