Emerging Infectious Diseases (Oct 2000)

Naturally Occurring Ehrlichia chaffeensis Infection in Coyotes from Oklahoma

  • Alan Kocan,
  • Gena Crowder Levesque,
  • Lisa C. Whitworth,
  • George L. Murphy,
  • Sidney A. Ewing,
  • Robert W. Barker

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0605.000505
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 5
pp. 477 – 480

Abstract

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A nested polymerase chain reaction assay was used to determine the presence of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, and E. ewingii DNA in blood samples of free-ranging coyotes from central and north-central Oklahoma. Of the 21 coyotes examined, 15 (71%) were positive for E. chaffeensis DNA; none was positive for E. canis or E. ewingii. Results suggest that E. chaffeensis infections are common in free-ranging coyotes in Oklahoma and that these wild canids could play a role in the epidemiology of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis.

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