Adding pieces to the monocytic ehrlichiosis puzzle : treatment, etiology and protection with a canine model
Abstract
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Infections with Ehrlichia canis cause Canine Monocytic Ehrlichiosis (CME), a disease which causes morbidity and mortality of dogs worldwide. Currently, there are questions in the literature regarding efficacy of treatment, etiology of severe disease and whether previous infections offer protection to dogs when they are challenged. Through careful experimentation it was determined that although treatment with doxycycline successfully ameliorates disease, it is not sufficient to clear bacteria from infected dogs and therefore a different treatment regimen should be explored which would fully clear the bacteria. Furthermore, it was determined that E. canis alone could induce severe acute CME in specific pathogen free dogs. Lastly, dogs were infected with E. canis, treated and then given a homologous challenge. Although the dogs demonstrated less severe signs of disease three out of four had levels of bacteria in their blood higher than what was seen during the initial infection.
Degree
Ph. D.
Thesis Department
Rights
Access is limited to the campuses of the University of Missouri.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.