Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
New spotted fever bacteria found in sick dogs in the US
By Korla, Praveen K et al.·Published in Emerging infectious diseases·2025·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Isolation and Characterization of Rickettsia finnyi, Novel Pathogenic Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia in Dogs, United States.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
In 2020, three dogs in the United States became ill with symptoms including fever and low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia) due to a newly identified bacteria called Rickettsia finnyi. This bacteria was found in their blood and is part of a group known for causing spotted fever. Researchers isolated and studied this bacteria, revealing it has a close genetic relationship to another known strain. The discovery highlights the potential health risks this new bacteria poses to dogs and possibly to humans as well.
People also search for: dog fever symptoms · low platelet count in dogs · Rickettsia infection in dogs
Abstract
In 2020, a novel spotted fever group Rickettsia was described in 3 clinically ill dogs in the United States. Using naturally infected canine blood, the novel Rickettsia sp. was isolated in epithelial (Vero E6) and mononuclear (DH82 and 030D) cell lines. The sequenced whole genome revealed a 1.27 Mb circular chromosome with 96.87% identity to Rickettsia raoultii on the basis of average nucleotide identity analysis. A maximum-likelihood phylogeny tree placed the novel Rickettsia in its own branch within the spotted fever group. Immunofluorescence revealed single rods localized along the membrane in epithelial cells and randomly distributed in the cytoplasm of mononuclear cells. We propose the name Rickettsia finnyi sp. nov., strain 2024-CO-Wats, which is available from national and international Rickettsial isolate reference collections. Fever and thrombocytopenia were among abnormalities in the 17 naturally infected dogs we describe, underscoring the pathogenic importance of R. finnyi sp. nov. and its potential public health relevance.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41379609/