Walls J J, Asanovich K M, Bakken J S, Dumler J S
Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 1998 Nov;5(6):762-5. doi: 10.1128/CDLI.5.6.762-765.1998.
White-tailed deer participate in the maintenance of the Ixodes tick life cycle and are reservoirs for some tick-borne infectious agents. Deer may be useful sentinels for tick-transmitted agents, such as ehrlichiae. In order to determine whether white-tailed deer are markers of natural transmission or are reservoirs for the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) agent, we performed indirect immunofluorescent-antibody (IFA) tests and immunoblotting with the HGE agent and Ehrlichia chaffeensis on sera from 43 and 294 deer captured in northwest Wisconsin during 1994 and 1995, respectively, and 12 deer from southern Maryland. According to IFA testing, 47% of 1994 Wisconsin sera, 60% of 1995 Wisconsin sera, and 25% of Maryland sera contained HGE agent antibodies. All IFA-positive deer sera tested reacted with the 44-kDa band which is unique to the Ehrlichia phagocytophila group. Serologic reactions to E. chaffeensis were detected by IFA testing in 15 of 337 (4%) Wisconsin deer and in 10 of 12 (83%) Maryland deer, while 60 and 80% of E. chaffeensis IFA-positive Wisconsin and Maryland deer sera, respectively, reacted with the E. chaffeensis 28- to 29-kDa antigens by immunoblotting. A total of 4% of deer from Wisconsin and 25% of deer from Maryland were found by IFA testing to have antibodies to both the HGE agent and E. chaffeensis; 75% of these were confirmed to contain E. chaffeensis antibodies by immunoblotting. These results suggest that white-tailed deer in diverse geographical regions of the United States are naturally infected with the HGE agent, E. chaffeensis, or both and that these animals, and potentially humans, are exposed to infected ticks at a high frequency in nature.
白尾鹿参与了肩突硬蜱的生命周期维持，并且是一些蜱传播感染因子的宿主。鹿可能是蜱传播病原体（如埃立克体）的有用哨兵。为了确定白尾鹿是自然传播的标志物还是人类粒细胞埃立克体病（HGE）病原体的宿主，我们分别对1994年和1995年在威斯康星州西北部捕获的43只和294只鹿以及来自马里兰州南部的12只鹿的血清进行了间接免疫荧光抗体（IFA）试验以及用HGE病原体和恰菲埃立克体进行免疫印迹分析。根据IFA检测，1994年威斯康星州血清的47%、1995年威斯康星州血清的60%以及马里兰州血清的25%含有HGE病原体抗体。所有检测的IFA阳性鹿血清都与吞噬细胞埃立克体属特有的44 kDa条带发生反应。通过IFA检测，在337只威斯康星州鹿中的15只（4%）以及12只马里兰州鹿中的10只（83%）检测到对恰菲埃立克体的血清学反应，而通过免疫印迹分析，分别有60%和80%的恰菲埃立克体IFA阳性威斯康星州和马里兰州鹿血清与恰菲埃立克体28至29 kDa抗原发生反应。通过IFA检测发现，威斯康星州的鹿中有4%以及马里兰州的鹿中有25%同时具有针对HGE病原体和恰菲埃立克体的抗体；其中75%通过免疫印迹分析被证实含有恰菲埃立克体抗体。这些结果表明，美国不同地理区域的白尾鹿自然感染了HGE病原体、恰菲埃立克体或两者，并且这些动物以及潜在的人类在自然界中高频接触感染的蜱。
