Ehrlichia Infection as a Cause of Severe Respiratory Distress

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Abstract
Human ehrlichiosis is increasingly being recognized as a cause of a diverse spectrum of illness in geographic regions where the tick vectors are found. The New York State Department of Health recently alerted physicians about human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Westchester County, in the lower Hudson River valley, and on Long Island.1 This region has a high incidence of Lyme disease associated with the Ixodes scapularis tick vector. It has a high population density and an environment in which humans are likely to acquire zoonotic diseases through outdoor activities. Since 1994, the Wadsworth Center has analyzed for hantavirus infection 62 serum samples from patients with fever and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Only one of these samples, from a patient who died of acute respiratory distress syndrome in April 1995, was positive for hantavirus. We retested the hantavirus-negative serum samples for evidence of infection with either Ehrlichia equi or E. chaffeensis.

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