Lewis Meghan, Garrett Kayla B, Cleveland Christopher A, Hernandez Sonia M, Swain Mark, Yabsley Michael J
Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Microbiologyopen. 2025 Feb;14(1):e70017. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.70017.
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are reservoirs for pathogens of other wildlife species, domestic animals, and humans, including several tick-borne pathogens. A relatively understudied organism in raccoons is Candidatus Neoehrlichia procyonis which has been detected in raccoons from the southeastern United States. A related species in Europe and Asia, Neoehrlichia mikurensis, uses rodents as reservoirs and Ixodes spp. as vectors; however, studies on rodents suggest they are not susceptible to Ca. N. procyonis. N. mikurensis has been associated with cases of neoehrlichiosis in people and dogs, which emphasizes the need to better understand the natural history of Ca. N. procyonis. We conducted a molecular survey of raccoons from selected regions of the United States and Canada. Of 394 raccoons tested, 167 (42.4%) were confirmed to be positive for Ca. N. procyonis based on sequence analysis. There was spatial variation in prevalence with significantly higher prevalence (68%, 268/394) being detected in the Southeast region of the United States compared with all other regions, although a high prevalence (55.1%, 217/394) was detected in California. Lower prevalence was detected in the Midwest (3.8%, 15/394) and none of the raccoons from Canada were positive. These data suggest that Ca. N. procyonis is widespread in raccoon populations in the United States but there is spatial variation which may be related to vector distribution or some other factor. Although not known to infect hosts other than raccoons, neoehrlichiosis should be considered in cases of suspected ehrlichiosis in immunocompromised dogs or people that have no known etiologic agent.
浣熊（北美浣熊）是其他野生动物、家畜和人类病原体的宿主，包括几种蜱传病原体。在浣熊中，一种相对较少被研究的生物体是嗜吞噬细胞无形体新种（Candidatus Neoehrlichia procyonis），在美国东南部的浣熊中已检测到该病原体。在欧洲和亚洲有一种相关物种，米库伦斯新立克次体（Neoehrlichia mikurensis），它以啮齿动物为宿主，硬蜱属为传播媒介；然而，对啮齿动物的研究表明它们对嗜吞噬细胞无形体新种不敏感。米库伦斯新立克次体与人和狗的新立克次体病病例有关，这凸显了更好地了解嗜吞噬细胞无形体新种自然史的必要性。我们对来自美国和加拿大选定地区的浣熊进行了分子调查。在394只接受检测的浣熊中，根据序列分析，有167只（42.4%）被确认为嗜吞噬细胞无形体新种呈阳性。患病率存在空间差异，美国东南部地区的患病率（68%，268/394）显著高于所有其他地区，尽管加利福尼亚州也检测到较高的患病率（55.1%，217/394）。中西部地区的患病率较低（3.8%，15/394），加拿大的浣熊均未呈阳性。这些数据表明，嗜吞噬细胞无形体新种在美国浣熊种群中广泛存在，但存在空间差异，这可能与传播媒介分布或其他因素有关。虽然目前尚不清楚除浣熊外该病原体是否会感染其他宿主，但对于免疫功能低下的狗或病因不明的人的疑似埃立克体病病例，应考虑新立克次体病。
