By Michelle Evason, BSc, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM), MRCVS
Director, Veterinary Education & Outreach at Antech<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veterinarians in the U.S. and Canada are seeing more ticks and more pets with tick-borne infections, including in regions (and seasons!) where<\/a> these problems were previously uncommon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsurprisingly, with more ticks and other vectors emerging and expanding their ranges, human VBD infections have been trending up too. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that diagnosis in humans has increased significantly in the U.S<\/span><\/strong><\/a>., with more than a million VBD cases between 2001 and 2023, and annual reported cases more than doubling during this timeframe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Veterinarians have had to rapidly evolve how to best detect, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases due to current vector emergence and expansion. It has been exciting to be part of the research behind the options Antech\u2122 now offers for VBD testing<\/span><\/a>. And not only that\u2014these test options are supported with education, such as clinical decision-making algorithms, that step practitioners through in-the-moment decision-making on which tests to run, why, and what treatment and prevention strategies to use, along with assisting pet owner communication and One Health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In veterinary medicine, we\u2019ve historically used antibody (serology testing) to look for infectious disease, and these tests play an important role in screening for an immune response to an infectious agent. The presence of a positive serology test result on Accuplex\u2122<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, or the in-house test option tr\u016bRapid\u2122 FOUR<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, confirms a dog has been exposed to the bacteria (through bite from a tick vector) that can cause Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis. While it\u2019s important to recognize that most dogs and cats exposed to VBD pathogens do not develop clinical disease, screening provides the valuable opportunity to inform conversations on prevention and cheer compliance when negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In acutely ill pets when VBD is suspected, PCR is often the better test choice, because antibody production by the body lags behind infection for many infectious disease agents, and consequently serology testing may still be negative. Since PCR detects genetic material if an infectious agent is present, this test confirms active infection. Because of this, for many VBDs, like anaplasmosis or ehrlichiosis, PCR is the preferred test to detect infection, and broad panel testing, like Antech\u2019s VBD PCR panel<\/span><\/a>, helps clarify complex cases, identify co-infections, and enables veterinarians to target appropriate treatment in dogs and cats that frequently present with vague clinical signs and laboratory changes, like low platelets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Antech\u2019s enhanced Vector-Borne Disease PCR Panels have undergone performance evaluation and head-to-head comparison with the PCR test currently considered \u201cgold standard\u201d. Additionally, the Vector-Borne Disease PCR Panel detects a broader range of pathogens than available commercial offerings and also includes an indicator of potential antimicrobial resistance to atovaquone to assist targeted treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know a lot about how this test works, and we’ve done the research. This year, in concert with bringing the Vector-Borne Disease PCR Panels to market for veterinarians, two research abstract studies about the panels were submitted, accepted, and presented at the 2025 ACVIM Forum. Similarly, numerous abstracts on Antech\u2019s other VBD offerings, Accuplex\u2122 and tr\u016bRapid\u2122 FOUR, were also presented at ACVIM (listed at the article\u2019s end for further reading).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Antech\u2019s T960 and T965 Vector-Borne Disease PCR Panels<\/a> allow veterinarians to diagnose VBDs that can impact dogs and cats while informing treatment choices that support antimicrobial stewardship. In addition to testing for the more common VBD pathogens, this comprehensive panel includes emerging pathogens like Chagas (Trypanosoma<\/em>), Cytauxzoon<\/em>, Hepatozoon<\/em>, Leishmania<\/em>, and Rickettsia<\/em> Spotted Fever Group (RMSF), among others like the feline hemoparasites, and Babesia<\/em>. The inclusion of the atovaquone resistance marker also addresses antimicrobial resistance, a growing concern in the treatment of Babesia<\/em> and Cytauxzoon<\/em> infections and is exclusively available on the Antech Vector-Borne Disease PCR panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As cases of vector-borne disease, and test-positive results, continue to rise in both endemic and emerging regions, veterinary professionals have a responsibility to provide care that considers One Health<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u2014the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Antech is committed to supporting veterinarians in both testing and supporting care for dogs and cats exposed to these serious diseases- and serving as disease sentinels for their human caregivers. Antech\u2019s VBD test options<\/a><\/span> (Accuplex\u2122<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, tr\u016bRapid\u2122 FOUR<\/span><\/strong><\/a>, and the Antech VBD PCR panels) provide the broadest range of infectious disease testing options on the market today \u2014 exactly what our profession, and our pet patients, need right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking for more information on Antech\u2019s vector-borne disease testing solutions? Visit our VBD page here<\/a><\/span> or speak with your Antech representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n [i] Gavic EA, Achen SE, Fox PR, Benjamin EJ, Goodwin J, Gunasekaran T, Schober KE, Tjostheim SS, Vickers J, Ward JL, Russell DS, Rishniw M, Hamer SA, Saunders AB. Trypanosoma cruzi infection diagnosed in dogs in nonendemic areas and results from a survey suggest a need for increased Chagas disease awareness in North America. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2023 Feb 2;261(5):705-712<\/p>\n\n\n\n [ii] Reichard MV, Cotey SR, Dangoudoubiyam S, Weerarathne P, Tussey K, Wilkes RP, Miller CA, Mehringer L, Burcham GN. Cytauxzoonosis in Indiana, USA: a case series of cats infected with Cytauxzoon felis (2018-2022). J Feline Med Surg. 2024 May;26(5).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aux \u00c9tats-Unis et au Canada, les v\u00e9t\u00e9rinaires constatent une augmentation du nombre de tiques et d'animaux de compagnie atteints d'infections transmises par les tiques, y compris dans des r\u00e9gions (et des saisons !) o\u00f9 ces probl\u00e8mes \u00e9taient auparavant rares.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":32461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"[]"},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"service-area":[],"class_list":["post-30568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-19 07:30:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30568"},{"taxonomy":"service-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antechdiagnostics.tronestaging.com\/fr_ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/service-area?post=30568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Similarly, diseases like Chagas (caused by transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi<\/em> from kissing bug vectors to dogs or humans) and cytauxzoonosis are moving out of areas we used to think of as focal hotspots, like Texas and Tennessee respectively. Recent reports indicate emergence in new states and regions, such as Chagas in California and Maryland, and cytauxzoonosis in cats from Indiana.[i]<\/sup>[ii]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nTick and Vector Expansion Affects Humans, Too<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In dogs, heartworm, Lyme borreliosis, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis remain the most commonly diagnosed VBDs. However, increased numbers and geographical spread of ticks that vector these VBDs, and others like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF, Rickettsia<\/em> Spotted Fever group), babesiosis, cytauxzoonosis, along with other vectors such as kissing bugs and fleas that transmit other dog and cat diseases, demands expanded options for timely testing<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nContextualized Diagnostic Options for VBDs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Whether it\u2019s the Accuplex\u2122<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and tr\u016bRapid\u2122 Four<\/a><\/span><\/strong> screening test options for identifying heartworm antigen, and exposure to tick-borne pathogens, like Anaplasma<\/em> spp., Ehrlichia<\/em> spp., and B. burgdorferi<\/em>, or a molecular diagnostic for acute disease detection, and confirming the presence of genetic material in a dog or cat, like the new Vector-Borne Disease PCR (polymerase chain reaction) Panel<\/a>. Antech\u2019s contextualized diagnostic options empower veterinary teams, guide treatment, and support antimicrobial stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAntibody vs. PCR Testing: What to choose?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Most Comprehensive PCR Panels in the Industry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Tests to Help Vets Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ACVIM Abstracts 2025: Accuplex, tr\u016bRapid FOUR, and VBD PCR Panel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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