Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Chronic ehrlichiosis in dogs causing severe illness and death
By Mylonakis, Mathios E et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2004·Clinic of Companion Animal Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Chronic canine ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis): a retrospective study of 19 natural cases.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Nineteen dogs in Greece were diagnosed with chronic ehrlichiosis, a serious infection caused by the Ehrlichia canis bacteria. These dogs showed symptoms like lack of appetite, depression, severe bleeding, and low blood cell counts. Unfortunately, despite various treatments, all the dogs eventually passed away. Some of them also tested positive for other infections, but these did not seem to affect the outcome of the ehrlichiosis. This highlights the severity of chronic ehrlichiosis and the challenges in treating it effectively.
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Abstract
Nineteen dogs from Greece with chronic ehrlichiosis were studied. The dogs exhibited bicytopenia or pancytopenia, bone marrow hypoplasia, seroreactivity to Ehrlichia canis (E. canis) antigens, and had no history of drug or radiation exposure. Anorexia, depression, severe bleeding tendencies, hypoalbuminemia, and increased serum alanine aminotransferase activity were also hallmarks of the disease. All these animals eventually died, irrespective of the treatment applied. Some dogs were also serologically positive for Rickettsia conorii, Leishmania infantum (L. infantum), and Bartonella vinsonii subspp. berkhoffii. Polymerase chain reaction testing of bone marrow samples revealed E. canis, Anaplasma phagocytophilia, Anaplasma platys, and L. infantum in some dogs. Concurrent infections did not appear to substantially influence the clinical course and final outcome of the chronic canine ehrlichiosis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15131097/