Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects human and animals, and causes human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis(HME). It is emerging as a tick-borne zoonosis of concern. Although deer are important natural reservoir hosts of E chaffeensis, few surveys of deer in Korea ...
Ehrlichia chaffeensis infects human and animals, and causes human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis(HME). It is emerging as a tick-borne zoonosis of concern. Although deer are important natural reservoir hosts of E chaffeensis, few surveys of deer in Korea for E chaffeensis have been conducted. Therefore, we conducted this study to confirm the occurrence of E chaffeensis in deer. To accomplish this study, we collected blood from total 27 deer and then polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and 16S rRNA sequence analyse to evaluate the samples for the presence of E chaffeensis. The results of this study indicated that 9(33%) of the deer were infected with E chaffeensis. This is the first study to demonstrate that deer in Korea are infected with E chaffeensis, which indicates that they can act as a natural reservoir host for E chaffeensis.