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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1998, p. 2823-2827, Vol. 36, No. 10
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Human Exposure to a Granulocytic Ehrlichia and
Other Tick-Borne Agents in Connecticut
Louis A.
Magnarelli,1,*
Jacob W.
Ijdo,2
John F.
Anderson,1
Steven J.
Padula,3
Richard A.
Flavell,4 and
Erol
Fikrig2
Department of Entomology, The Connecticut
Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut
065041;
Section of Rheumatology,
Department of Internal Medicine,2 and
Immunobiology and Howard Hughes Medical
Institute,4 Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, Connecticut 06520; and
Division of Rheumatic
Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health
Center, Farmington, Connecticut 060303
Received 30 December 1997/Returned for modification 14 May
1998/Accepted 30 June 1998
Indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) staining methods with
Ehrlichia equi (MRK or BDS strains) and Western blot
analyses containing a human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) agent
(NCH-1 strain) were used to confirm probable human cases
of infection in Connecticut during 1995 and 1996. Also included were
other tests for Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the agent of human
monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), Babesia microti, and
Borrelia burgdorferi. Thirty-three (8.8%) of 375 patients who had fever accompanied by marked leukopenia or
thrombocytopenia were serologically confirmed as having HGE. Western blot analyses of a subset of positive sera confirmed the results of the IFA staining methods for 15 (78.9%) of 19 seropositive specimens obtained from different persons. There was frequent detection of antibodies to a 44-kDa protein of the HGE agent. Serologic
testing also revealed possible cases of Lyme borreliosis (n = 142), babesiosis (n = 41), and
HME (n = 21). Forty-seven (26.1%) of 180 patients had
antibodies to two or more tick-borne agents. Therefore, when one of
these diseases is clinically suspected or diagnosed, clinicians
should consider the possibility of other current or past tick-borne
infections.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Entomology, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, P.O. Box 1106, New Haven, CT 06504-1106. Phone: (203) 974-8466. Fax: (203) 974-8502. E-mail: louis.magnarelli{at}po.state.ct.us.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 1998, p. 2823-2827, Vol. 36, No. 10
0095-1137/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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