JWD Subscribe to eTOC alerts
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 44(2), 2008, pp. 381-387
© Wildlife Disease Association  2008
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yabsley, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Little, S. E.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yabsley, M. J.
Right arrow Articles by Little, S. E.

NATURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION OF WHITE-TAILED DEER (ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS) FROM THE UNITED STATES WITH AN EHRLICHIA SP. CLOSELY RELATED TO EHRLICHIA RUMINANTIUM

 Michael J. Yabsley1,2,5, Amanda D. Loftis3 and Susan E. Little4

1 Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
2 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA
3 Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA
4 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078, USA
5 Corresponding author (email: myabsley{at}uga.edu)

ABSTRACT:   An Ehrlichia sp. (Panola Mountain [PM] Ehrlichia sp.) closely related to Ehrlichia ruminantium was recently detected in a domestic goat experimentally infested with lone star ticks (LSTs, Amblyomma americanum) collected from Georgia, USA. The infected goat exhibited pyrexia and mild clinical pathologic abnormalities consistent with ehrlichiosis. At least two other Ehrlichia species (Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Ehrlichia ewingii) are maintained in nature by a cycle involving LSTs as the primary vector and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginanus) as a known or suspected reservoir. To investigate the possibility that white-tailed deer are potential hosts of the PM Ehrlichia sp., whole blood samples collected from 87 wild deer from 2000 to 2002 were screened with a species-specific nested PCR assay targeting the citrate synthase gene. In addition, two laboratory-raised white-tailed deer fawns were each infested with 120 wild-caught LST adults from Missouri, USA, and blood samples were periodically collected and tested for the PM Ehrlichia sp. Of 87 deer tested from 20 locations in the southeastern United States, three (3%) deer from Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia were positive for the PM Ehrlichia sp. Wild-caught ticks transmitted the PM Ehrlichia sp. to one of two deer fawns, and colony-reared nymphal LSTs acquired the organism from the deer, maintained it transstadially as they molted to adults, and transmitted the PM Ehrlichia sp. to two naïve fawns. These findings indicate that white-tailed deer are naturally and experimentally susceptible to infection with an Ehrlichia sp. closely related to E. ruminantium and are able to serve as a source of infection to LSTs.
  Key words:  Amblyomma, cervid, Cowdria, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Ehrlichia ruminantium, heartwater, lone star tick.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by the Wildlife Disease Association.