Clinician’s Brief revisits canine Lyme diagnosis and management

Clinician’s Brief has published a new podcast episode featuring Jane E. Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, MPH, MBA, DACVIM, focused on the diagnosis and management of canine Lyme borreliosis. Released March 2, 2026, the episode centers on a familiar clinical challenge: exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi is common in some regions, but true illness is much less common, making positive test results hard to interpret in practice. The discussion highlights what veterinarians should, and shouldn’t, do after a positive test, including decisions around treatment, vaccination, and monitoring for Lyme nephritis. (podcasts.apple.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary teams, the biggest takeaway is that seropositivity alone doesn’t equal disease. ACVIM’s consensus update says most seropositive dogs never develop clinical illness, and it cautions against overinterpreting quantitative antibody results as proof of active disease. Current guidance instead emphasizes pairing test results with compatible signs, considering proteinuria screening, and maintaining tick control, with reevaluation for proteinuria recommended several times a year in seropositive dogs because the pathogenesis of Lyme nephritis remains uncertain. That matters even more as CAPC says Lyme risk continues to expand south and west in the U.S., while the Northeast and upper Midwest remain high-risk areas. (academic.oup.com)

What to watch: Expect continued discussion around how aggressively to test, monitor, and treat asymptomatic seropositive dogs as Lyme exposure broadens geographically and diagnostic tools become more nuanced. (academic.oup.com)