TY - JOUR AU - Massung, Robert AU - Mauel, Michael AU - Owens, Jessica AU - Allan, Nancy AU - Courtney, Joshua AU - Stafford, Kirby AU - Mather, Thomas T1 - Genetic Variants of Ehrlichia phagocytophila, Rhode Island and Connecticut T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 5 SP - 467 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Primers were used to amplify a 561-bp region of the 16S rRNA gene of Ehrlichia phagocytophila from Ixodes scapularis ticks and small mammals collected in Rhode Island and Connecticut. DNA sequences for all 50 E. phagocytophila-positive samples collected from 1996 through 1998 in southwestern Connecticut were identical to the sequence reported for E. phagocytophila DNA from confirmed human cases. In contrast, the sequences from 92 of 123 E. phagocytophila-positive Rhode Island samples collected from 1996 through 1999 included several variants differing by 1-2 nucleotides from that in the agent infecting humans. While 11.9% of 67 E. phagocytophila-positive ticks collected during 1997 in Rhode Island harbored ehrlichiae with sequences identical to that of the human agent, 79.1% had a variant sequence not previously described. The low incidence of human ehrlichiosis in Rhode Island may in part result from interference by these variant ehrlichiae with maintenance and transmission of the true agent of human disease. KW - Ehrlichia phagocytophila KW - ehrlichiosis KW - rickettsia KW - Anaplasma phagocytophila KW - Peru KW - United States KW - Connecticut KW - Rhode Island DO - 10.3201/eid0805.010251 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/5/01-0251_article ER - End of Reference