Ehrlichiosis (canine)

Ehrlichiosis (/ˌɛərlᵻkiˈoʊsᵻs/; also known as canine rickettsiosis, canine hemorrhagic fever, canine typhus, tracker dog disease, and tropical canine pancytopenia is a tick-borne disease of dogs usually caused by the organism Ehrlichia canis. Ehrlichia canis is the pathogen of animals. Humans can become infected by E. canis and other species after tick exposure. German Shepherd Dogs are thought to be susceptible to a particularly severe form of the disease, other breeds generally have milder clinical signs. Cats can also be infected.

Ehrlichia is a rickettsial bacteria belonging to the family Ehrlichiaceae. There are several species of Ehrlichia, but the one that most commonly affects dogs and causes the most severe clinical signs is Ehrlichia canis. This species infects monocytes in the peripheral blood. The brown dog tick, or Rhipicephalus sanguineous, that passes the organism to the dog is prevalent throughout most of the United States, but most cases tend to occur in the Southwest and Gulf Coast regions where there is a high concentration of the tick. Ehrlichia is found in many parts of the world and was first recognized in Algeria in 1935. During the Vietnam War ehrlichiosis became well known as a dog disease due to the infection and death of many military working dogs. Two types of human ehrlichiosis have been identified in the United States: human monocytic ehrlichiosis and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis.

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