Abstract
This case report describes two dogs with granulocytic ehrlichiosis. Dog 1 was a male Labrador retriever with clinical signs of lymphosarcoma. Dog 2 was a female Airedale terrier, whose clinical signs included apathy, pyrexia, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Examination of blood smears revealed Ehrlichia organisms in the neutrophils of both dogs. There was thrombocytopenia in both dogs, and dog 2 also had leukopenia. In both dogs, bands of identical length were amplified from DNA of leukocytes via nested PCR. The bands had identical nucleotide sequences, which differed from the gene sequences of Ehrlichia equi and E. phagocytophila in three and two positions, respectively. Interestingly, the nucleotide sequence of the 16S rRNA was 100% homologous to that of a human granulocytic ehrlichia.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (147.0 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Anderson B. E., Dawson J. E., Jones D. C., Wilson K. H. Ehrlichia chaffeensis, a new species associated with human ehrlichiosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1991 Dec;29(12):2838–2842. doi: 10.1128/jcm.29.12.2838-2842.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Barlough J. E., Madigan J. E., DeRock E., Bigornia L. Nested polymerase chain reaction for detection of Ehrlichia equi genomic DNA in horses and ticks (Ixodes pacificus). Vet Parasitol. 1996 Jun;63(3-4):319–329. doi: 10.1016/0304-4017(95)00904-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Buhles W. C., Jr, Huxsoll D. L., Hildebrandt P. K. Tropical canine pancytopenia: role of aplastic anaemia in the pathogenesis of severe disease. J Comp Pathol. 1975 Oct;85(4):511–521. doi: 10.1016/0021-9975(75)90118-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Chen S. M., Dumler J. S., Bakken J. S., Walker D. H. Identification of a granulocytotropic Ehrlichia species as the etiologic agent of human disease. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 Mar;32(3):589–595. doi: 10.1128/jcm.32.3.589-595.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Clark A. M., Hopkins G. F., MacLean I. A. Tick-borne fever in dogs. Vet Rec. 1996 Sep 14;139(11):268–268. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Johansson K. E., Pettersson B., Uhlén M., Gunnarsson A., Malmqvist M., Olsson E. Identification of the causative agent of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Swedish dogs and horses by direct solid phase sequencing of PCR products from the 16S rRNA gene. Res Vet Sci. 1995 Mar;58(2):109–112. doi: 10.1016/0034-5288(95)90061-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lewis G. E., Jr, Huxsoll D. L., Ristic M., Johnson A. J. Experimentally induced infection of dogs, cats, and nonhuman primates with Ehrlichia equi, etiologic agent of equine ehrlichiosis. Am J Vet Res. 1975 Jan;36(1):85–88. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Madewell B. R., Gribble D. H. Infection in two dogs with an agent resembling Ehrlichia equi. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1982 Mar 1;180(5):512–514. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Rikihisa Y. The tribe Ehrlichieae and ehrlichial diseases. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1991 Jul;4(3):286–308. doi: 10.1128/cmr.4.3.286. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Winkler G. C., Arnold P., Deplazes P., Glardon O., Lutz H. Klinische und serologische Diagnose von Ehrlichiose bei Hunden in der Schweiz. Schweiz Arch Tierheilkd. 1988 Jul;130(7):357–367. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Woody B. J., Hoskins J. D. Ehrlichial diseases of dogs. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 1991 Jan;21(1):75–98. doi: 10.1016/s0195-5616(91)50009-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]