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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 1999, p. 2887-2892, Vol. 37, No. 9
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Infection with Agents of Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis, Lyme Disease, and Babesiosis in Wild White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus leucopus) in Connecticut

Kirby C. Stafford III,1,* Robert F. Massung,2 Louis A. Magnarelli,1 Jacob W. Ijdo,3 and John F. Anderson1

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut 065041; National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia 303332; and Section of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 065203

Received 25 March 1999/Returned for modification 4 May 1999/Accepted 15 June 1999

White-footed mice, Peromyscus leucopus, were captured in southern Connecticut during 1997 and 1998 to determine the prevalence of infections caused by granulocytic Ehrlichia sp., Borrelia burgdorferi, and Babesia microti. Of the 50 mice captured and recaptured, 25 of 47 (53.2%) and 23 of 48 (47.9%) contained antibodies to the BDS or NCH-1 Ehrlichia strains, respectively, as determined by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) staining methods. The majority (83.3%) of 48 mice also contained antibodies to B. burgdorferi, as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Moreover, 20 of 26 (76.9%) contained antibodies to B. microti by IFA staining methods. In nested PCR tests using the 16S rRNA gene, the DNA of the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) agent was detected in 17 of 47 mice (36.2%), but only 4 (23.5%) of these 17 mice were PCR positive at each capture. Antibody-positive reactions to granulocytic Ehrlichia sp. organisms were detected in 17 of 23 (73.9%) of the PCR-positive mice. The sequences from PCR products from nine positive blood samples were identical to the HGE agent. Ehrlichia spp. were cultured from three of five mice captured in April 1998, including one that was PCR positive in April 1997. In addition, 2 of 14 larval Ixodes scapularis pools, which were attached to two PCR-positive mice, contained DNA of the HGE agent. A high percentage of white-footed mice are infected or have been infected naturally by the HGE agent with low-level persistent infection or frequent reinfection in some individual mice. However, the changes noted in the presence of DNA and antibodies in repeated blood and serum samples from individual mice over several months of field collection suggests that infection with granulocytic Ehrlichia is transient in most wild P. leucopus.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington St., P.O. Box 1106, New Haven, CT 06504. Phone: (203) 974-8485. Fax: (203) 974-8502. E-mail: kirby.stafford{at}po.state.ct.us.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 1999, p. 2887-2892, Vol. 37, No. 9
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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