Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Isolation and characterization of two European strains of Ehrlichia phagocytophila of equine origin.
- Journal:
- Clinical and diagnostic laboratory immunology
- Year:
- 2002
- Authors:
- Bjöersdorff, Anneli et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Clinical Microbiology
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Researchers studied two horses from Sweden that had a disease called granulocytic ehrlichiosis, which is caused by a type of bacteria known as Ehrlichia phagocytophila. They took blood samples from these horses and grew the bacteria in a lab to learn more about them. By analyzing the genetic material from the bacteria, they found that the DNA sequences matched those of similar bacteria found in humans and other animals in Sweden, but were different from a strain found in the United States. This suggests that while the bacteria in these Swedish horses are closely related to those affecting other species in the region, they have some unique genetic differences.
Abstract
We report the isolation and partial genetic characterization of two equine strains of granulocytic Ehrlichia of the genogroup Ehrlichia phagocytophila. Frozen whole-blood samples from two Swedish horses with laboratory-verified granulocytic ehrlichiosis were inoculated into HL-60 cell cultures. Granulocytic Ehrlichia was isolated and propagated from both horses. DNA extracts from the respective strains were amplified by PCR using primers directed towards the 16S rRNA gene, the groESL heat shock operon gene, and the ank gene. The amplified gene fragments were sequenced and compared to known sequences in the GenBank database. With respect to the 16S rRNA gene, the groESL gene, and the ank gene, the DNA sequences of the two equine Ehrlichia isolates were identical to sequences found in isolates from clinical cases of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in humans and domestic animals in Sweden. However, compared to amplified DNA from an American Ehrlichia strain of the E. phagocytophila genogroup, differences were found in the groESL gene and ank gene sequences.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11874874/