Life Sciences Commons^™

Developing Molecular Tools For Diagnosis Of Human Ehrlichiosis, Megan Mears

GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium

Background: Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. ewingii, E. muris and E. canis are known to cause febrile illnesses in humans and dogs. These pathogens are transmitted by ticks, and infection is established following invasion of the human or dog white blood cells. Ehrlichia chaffeensis infections of humans have a fatality rate up to 5%. Ehrlichia ewingii displays antigenic cross-reactivity with E. chaffeensis; however, laboratory case confirmation is difficult because E. ewingii is not cultivable so antigens and genetic data are hard to acquire. Our project will develop approaches and tools to characterize E. ewingii surface protein gene homologous to the major 120 …