Tick-borne illnesses are caused by infection with a variety of disease-causing pathogens, including rickettsia and other types of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Because ticks can harbor more than one disease-causing agent, persons can be infected with more than one pathogen at the same time.
While there are several different ticks that carry disease, the one many people are familiar with is Ixodes scapularis, more commonly known as the deer or bear tick in North America. This is the one that causes Lyme disease. Other ticks that transmit B. burgdorferi are the Ixodes dammini and the Ixodes pacificus. Ticks that transmit other diseases include the lone star tick
(A. americanum), the dog tick, wood tick, and the Western Black-legged tick.
Ehrlichiosis is a recently recognized bacterial (rickettsiae) disease that is spread by infected ticks. Two types of human ehrlichiosis have been identified in the U.S.: human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE). The disease attacks different types of white blood cells (either monocytes or granulocytes). Evidence suggests that the lone star tick transmits HME and the deer tick transmits HGE.
This MediFocus Guide contains an extensive listing of citations and abstracts of recent journal articles that have been published about this condition in trustworthy medical journals. This is the same type of information that is available to physicians and other health care professionals. A partial selection of journal articles that are abstracted in this MediFocus Guide includes:
Annual update of systemic disease--1999: emerging and re-emerging infections (Part II). Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology. 2000
Gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations of human ehrlichiosis: 8 cases and a review of the literature. Digestive Diseases. 1999
Ehrlichiosis. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 1998
Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in a renal transplant patient: case report and review of the literature. Transplantation. 1997
Ehrlichiosis in children. Journal of Pediatrics. 1997
Is human granulocytic ehrlichiosis a new Lyme disease? Review and comparison of clinical, laboratory, epidemiological, and some biological features. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 1997
Human ehrlichiosis. Postgraduate Medicine. 1997
Sequence analysis of the ank gene of granulocytic ehrlichiae. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 2000
Human monocytic ehrlichiosis: a potentially severe disease in children. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2000
Transmission of the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis by Ixodes spinipalpis ticks: evidence of an enzootic cycle of dual infection with Borrelia burgdorferi in Northern Colorado. Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2000
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