When a clinician suspects ehrlichiosis or anaplasmosis but the antibody titers are too cross-reactive to call, PCR on whole blood drawn before doxycycline starts can pin down the species in hours. Without PCR, the case is reported in the surveillance bucket undetermined ehrlichiosis/anaplasmosis - a meaningful slice of CDC's annual count.
CDC's surveillance category undetermined ehrlichiosis or anaplasmosis exists because the two diseases share clinical presentation,…
Ehrlichia ewingii ehrlichiosis was first recognized in human disease in 1999, almost exclusively in immunocompromised patients - HIV,…
Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum cause clinically similar diseases but parasitize different white blood cells.…
Ehrlichia chaffeensis ehrlichiosis classically presents with fever, headache, and a triad of laboratory findings: leukopenia,…
Anaplasma phagocytophilum lives inside human neutrophils, where it forms cytoplasmic clumps called morulae visible on a Giemsa-stained…
Borrelia miyamotoi disease shares a vector with Lyme disease - the same Ixodes species - but presents differently: high fevers that recur…