Ehrlichiosis

Providers often fail to consider ehrlichia when treating tick-borne infections

When patients present to providers in North Carolina for a possible tick bite, clinicians are not testing them for Ehrlichia, a tick-borne illness that occurs more frequently than Lyme disease and as frequently as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Ehrlichia: confusing cousins, the blood supply, and the new kid on the block

Ehrlichia is actually named after German microbiologist Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), who won the Nobel Prize in 1908. Here are some things you actually need to know about Ehrlichia...

More Misery From Tick Bites

The usual advice about controlling tick infestations and wearing tucked-in pants and tightly fitting cuffs applies. Ehrlichia ticks are widespread and infest some places where Lyme disease is also common, and the infections share some symptoms, but ehrlichiosis is much more likely than Lyme disease to cause a very high fever. The two can be distinguished by blood tests and microscopic examination.

Ehrlichia: New Tick Infection May Be Linked To Environmental Change

If the rising risks of Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis or Babesiosis weren't reasons enough to take extra precautions while outdoors this summer -- and to do a thorough tick check before going back inside -- researchers have now identified yet another unpleasant tick-transmitted disease.

American Lyme Disease Foundation

Ehrlichioses are treated with antibiotics, specifically doxycycline or tetracycline. Doxycycline is usually the drug of choice since it’s more effective, better tolerated, and safer for use in children than tetracycline. Since ehrlichia is an acute disease, doctors recommend starting antibiotic therapy as soon as possible to avoid complications, especially in patients with weak immune systems. Since doxycycline is also used to treat Rocky Mountain spotted fever, antibiotic therapy can be started even if the diagnosis is still uncertain or the results of advanced blood tests aren’t available yet.

Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center

The optimal dose and duration of antibiotic treatment for anaplasmosis has not been definitively established, but it is clear that A. phagocytophilum is highly sensitive to tetracyclines. Thus, oral doxycycline is the recommended treatment, at the same dose used for Ehrlichia infections: 200 mg/day in two divided doses. The usual treatment duration is 5-10 days, which is extended if there is suspected coinfection with B. burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease.

LymeDisease.org

Ehrlichiosis is a term that describes several different bacterial diseases, one of which is also called anaplasmosis. Some are transmitted by Ixodes ticks and others by the lone star tick.

Stop Ticks on People

Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) occurs when the bacteria infect granulocytes, specific cells involved in immune responses and allergies. Human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) occurs when a different Ehrlichia species infects macrophages, another type of immune cell. HGE and HME differ, but their symptoms overlap. Both often cause fever, headaches, and aches and pains, but a rash is not as common as with Rocky Mountain spotted fever or Lyme disease. HGE and HME can be treated with antibiotics if the infection is detected early. No vaccine is available.

Tick Encounter

Both types of ehrlichiosis have similar clinical symptoms, ranging from a mild illness to a severe, life-threatening disease. Typically, infected individuals have fever, headache, malaise, chills, sweating, muscle aches, nausea, and vomiting. Also, either disease may cause leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, and liver function abnormalities. Treatment with anitbiotics is effective when initiated early in the course of infection.

CDC

Ehrlichiosis is the general name used to describe several bacterial diseases that affect animals and humans. Human ehrlichiosisis a disease caused by at least three different ehrlichial species in the United States: Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Ehrlichia ewingii, and a third Ehrlichia species provisionally called Ehrlichia muris-like (EML). Ehrlichiae are transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected tick.

MayoClinic

Ehrlichiosis is a bacterial illness transmitted by ticks that causes flu-like symptoms. The signs and symptoms of ehrlichiosis range from mild body aches to severe fever and usually appear within a week or two of a tick bite. If treated quickly with appropriate antibiotics, ehrlichiosis generally improves within a few days. Another tick-borne infection — anaplasmosis — is closely related to ehrlichiosis. But the two have distinct differences and are caused by different microorganisms. The best way to prevent these infections is to avoid tick bites.

MedlinePlus

Ehrlichiosis is caused by bacteria that belong to the family called Rickettsiae. Rickettsial bacteria cause a number of serious diseases worldwide, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus. All of these diseases are spread to humans by a tick, flea, or mite bite.

Patient

Ehrlichiosis is a tick-borne infection of mononuclear cells and granulocytes that affects various mammals, including mice, cattle, dogs, deer, horses, sheep, goats, and humans. Ehrlichia are obligate, intracytoplasmic bacteria that resemble Rickettsia and are tiny gram-negative organisms.