Detection of Ehrlichia chaffeensis in a febrile patient in Kinmen, an offshore island of Taiwan

摘要

Human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) is a tick-borne disease caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis, a member of family Ana- plasmataceae, in the order Rickettsiales. The common clinical and laboratory manifestations include fever, headache, malaise, myalgia, leukopenia, thrombocyto- penia, and elevated liver enzymes. The severity of the disease ranges from mild febrile illness to occasionally fatal. 1 Although previous study has identified E. chaffeensis in Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides and Ixodes granulatus ticks as well as in rodents in Kinmen, one of Taiwan’s offshore islands, human infection of E. chaffeensis has not been reported to date.