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Ehrlichiosis

Ehrlichiosis is also refered to as canine rickettsiosis, canine hemorrhagic fever, canine typhus, tracker dog disease, and tropical canine pancytopenia. It is a tick-borne disease of dogs that is caused by the organism Ehrlichia. Dogs, cats, and in rare instances, humans are affected. German Shepherd dogs are known to be particularly affected by the disease. more...

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Erlichia

There are several species of Ehrlichia, but the one that most commonly affects dogs and causes the most severe clinical signs is Ehrlichia canis. The brown dog tick, or Rhipicephalus sanguineous, that passes the Ehrlichia to the dog is prevalent throughout most of the United States, but most cases tend to occur in the Southwest and Gulf Coast regions where there is a high concentration of the tick.

Disease Overview

Dogs get ehrlichiosis from the brown dog tick, which passes an ehrlichia organism into the bloodstream when it bites. There are three stages of ehrlichiosis, each varying in severity. The acute stage, occurring several weeks after infection and lasting for up to a month, can lead to fever and lowered peripheral blood cell counts. The second stage, called the subclinical phase, has no outward signs and can last for the remainder of the dog's life, during which the dog remains infected with the organism. In some dog breeds, such as the German Shepherd dog, the third and most serious stage of infection, the chronic phase, will commence. Very low blood cell counts (pancytopenia), bleeding, bacterial infection, lameness, neurological and ophthalmic disorders, and kidney disease, can result. Chronic ehrlichiosis can be fatal.

Treatments

Antibiotics, administered for an extended period of time, are effective at eliminating the infection. Dogs with severe cases of chronic ehrlichiosis cannot be cured, but supportive care and treatment of diseases secondary to the infection, such as anemia, can help stabilize the dog.

Signs and symptoms

The acute stage of the disease, occurring most often in the spring and summer, begins one to three weeks after infection and lasts for two to four weeks. Clinical signs include a fever, petechiae, bleeding disorders, and vasculitis. There are no outward signs of the subclinical phase. Clinical signs of the chronic phase include pale gums due to anemia, bleeding due to thrombocytopenia, vasculitis, lymphadenopathy, respiratory dyspnea, coughing, polyuria, polydipsia, lameness, ophthalmic diseases such as retinal hemorrhage and anterior uveitis, and neurological disease. Dogs that are severely affected can die from this disease.

Although people can get ehrlichiosis, dogs do not transmit the bacteria to humans; rather, ticks pass on the ehrlichia organism. Clinical signs of human ehrlichiosis include fever, headache, eye pain, and gastrointestinal upset.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is achieved most commonly by serologic testing of the blood for the presence of antibodies against the ehrlichia organism. Many veterinarians routinely test for the disease, especially in enzootic areas. It should be noted, however, that during the acute phase of infection, the test can be falsely negative because the body will not have had time to make antibodies to the infection. As such, the test should be repeated. In addition, blood tests may show abnormalities in the numbers of red cells, white cells, and platelets, if the disease is present. Uncommonly, a diagnosis can be made by looking under a microscope at a blood smear for the presence of the ehrlichia organism, which sometimes can be seen within a white blood cell.

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The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Ehrlichiosis: A Revised and Updated Directory for the Internet Age $32.71 Lyme disease coinfections on the rise, can complicate Tx. (Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis). : An article from: Family Practice News $5.95
Anaplasma phagocytophilum-infected ticks, Japan.(DISPATCHES) : An article from: Emerging Infectious Diseases $5.95 Ehrlichia chaffeensis infection may be less serious than thought. (Can be Mistaken for Viral Syndrome).(Brief Article) : An article from: Pediatric News $5.95
Ehrlichiosis Case Rate Jumps in Connecticut.(Statistical Data Included) : An article from: Family Practice News $5.95 The bite of Ixodes tick can harbor three infections; looks like Lyme disease.(Infectious Diseases)(Lyme disease, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and babesiosis) : An article from: Pediatric News $5.95
Tick-Borne Ehrlichiosis Is Rising in the South. : An article from: Family Practice News $5.95 Concurrent babesiosis and ehrlichiosis in an elderly host : An article from: Mayo Clinic Proceedings $20.00
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine : Ehrlichiosis $2.30 Concomitant tickborne encephalitis and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis.(Dispatches) : An article from: Emerging Infectious Diseases $5.95

Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Estonia - Letters - Letter to the Editor
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Manifestations of human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), a tick-borne infection caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis, range from asymptomatic disease to fulminant ...
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Geographic information systems combined with methods of spatial analysis provide powerful new tools for understanding the epidemiology of diseases and ...
Serologic evidence of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, Greece - Letters - Brief Article
To the Editor: Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), a tickborne infectious disease, was first described in 1994 (1). Several cases have been reported ...
Outcomes of treated human granulocytic ehrlichiosis cases - Research - Statistical Data Included
We conducted a case-control study in Wisconsin to determine whether some patients have long-term adverse health outcomes after antibiotic treatment for human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE). A stan
Severe Ehrlichia chaffeensis infection in a lung transplant recipient: a review of ehrlichiosis in the immunocompromised patient - Dispatches
We describe a case of human ehrlichiosis in a lung transplant recipient and review published reports on ehrlichiosis in immunocompromised patients. Despite early therapy with doxycycline, our patie
Serologic evidence of human monocytic and granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Israel
Research embodies results of the first serologic survey in Israel for human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) by testing ...

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