First report of human ehrlichiosis in Turkey

Ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne infection, can cause severe and fatal disease. A6-year-old boy was admitted with fever, chills, malaise, headache, anorexia,rhinorrhoea, and cough lasting two days. He had had contact with a dog10 days prior, and a tick had been removed the day before. Fever, minimalconjunctival injection, oropharyngeal hyperemia and cracked, hyperemiclips were observed. Laboratory tests were normal except for lymphopeniaand hyponatremia. Cytoplasmic morulae in the monocytes and granulocyteswere seen on peripheral blood smear. Doxycycline was started immediately,and the fever subsided within 48 hours. Given the Ehrlichia was positivebut Anaplasma negative by real-time PCR, he was diagnosed as ehrlichiosis,subspecies identification could not be performed. This is the first humanehrlichiosis case in Turkey.

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