White-Tailed Deer as a Potential Reseroir of Ehrlichia spp.

Authors

Jacqueline E. Dawson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
James E. Childs, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionFollow
Kristine L. Biggie, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Charla Moore, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
David Stalknecht, The University of Georgia
John Shaddock, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
John Bouseman, Illinois Natural History Survey
Erik Hofmeister, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
James G. Olson, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Date of this Version

1994

Comments

Published in Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 30(2), 1994, pp. 162-168

Abstract

We determined the antibody prevalence to Ehrlichia spp., in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and the geographic distribution of seropositive animals in 84 counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia (USA). Using an indirect fluorescent antibody test we detected antibodies (≥ 1:128) to this bacterium in 544 (43%) of 1269 deer. Presence of antibodies to Ehrlichia spp. was related to a southerly latitude, low elevation, and resulting milder climatic conditions. It appears that whitetailed deer were naturally infected with Ehrlichia spp.; the infection was widely distributed throughout the southeastern United States. Based on these data, we propose that white-tailed deer play a role in the natural history of Ehrlichia spp. infection in the United States. Key words: Human ehrlichiosis, Ehrlichia spp., white-tailed deer, wildlife reservoir, ticks, Amblyomrna americanum, surveillance, serologic survey.