Geographic Distribution, Molecular Variability, and Landscape Epidemiology of Ehrlichia Chaffeensis from White-Tailed Deer in the Southeastern United States
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GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION, MOLECULAR VARIABILITY, AND LANDSCAPE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF EHRLICHIA CHAFFEENSIS FROM WHITE-TAILED DEER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES by MICHAEL JOHN YABSLEY (Under the Direction of William R. Davidson) ABSTRACT The major objective of this research was to gain a better understanding of the epidemiology of E. chaffeensis and E. ewingii, both emerging zoonotic pathogens vectored by the lone star tick (LST; Amblyomma americanum). The natural history of E. chaffeensis includes the LST as a vector and white-tailed deer (WTD; Odocoileus virginianus) as both a natural reservoir for E. chaffeensis and a major host of LST. Ehrlichia ewingii is also vectored by the LST and natural infections have been reported from dogs and humans, but a reservoir has not been confirmed. To delineate the geographic distribution of E. chaffeensis, a prototype surveillance system using WTD as natural sentinels was developed. To accomplish this goal, WTD from 563 counties from 18 states were tested for E. chaffeensis by serology, PCR, and culture. This sentinel system met critical criteria including diagnostic accuracy, adequacy of sample sizes and sampling intensity, key epidemiologic associations with the LST vector, and ability to detect spread of E. chaffeensis. To predict the distribution of E. chaffeensis, geostatistical (kriging) and logistic regression were conducted. Both analyses accurately predicted the distribution of E. chaffeensis and logistic regression detected climatic and land cover variables significantly associated with E. chaffeensis occurrence. The predicted E. chaffeensis distribution had good concordance with human case data. These comparisons are evidence that utilization of WTD as sentinels is an efficient alternative to human surveillance for predicting E. chaffeensis distribution and disease risk. Molecular characterization of two antigen genes (VLPT and 120-kDa) of E. chaffeensis from 102 WTD showed that multiple genetic types were present. Genetic types were not geographically clustered and co-infection of single deer and populations of deer was common. Because E. chaffeensis and E. ewingii are closely related and transmitted by the LST, deer were hypothesized to be susceptible to infection with E. ewingii. To test for E. ewingii infection, polymerase chain reaction and inoculation of fawns with whole blood from wild deer were conducted. Natural infections of WTD were detected and captive fawns were successfully infected. These data suggest that white-tailed deer may be an important reservoir for E. ewingii. INDEX WORDS: Ehrlichia chaffeensis, white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, surveillance system, sentinels, epidemiology, molecular characterization, geographic information system, Ehrlichia ewingii GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION, MOLECULAR VARIABILITY, AND LANDSCAPE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF EHRLICHIA CHAFFEENSIS FROM WHITE-TAILED DEER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES by MICHAEL JOHN YABSLEY BS, Clemson University, 1997 MS, Clemson University, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2004 © 2004 Michael John Yabsley All Rights Reserved GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION, MOLECULAR VARIABILITY, AND LANDSCAPE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF EHRLICHIA CHAFFEENSIS FROM WHITE-TAILED DEER IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES by MICHAEL JOHN YABSLEY Major Professor: William R. Davidson Committee: David E. Stallknecht Susan E. Little Elizabeth W. Howerth Ray M. Kaplan Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee members for their guidance and help during my studies. Particularly, I would like to thank Randy who constantly serves as a source of inspiration. He juggles more than most professors I’ve ever met but still manages to find the time to offer help and is never to busy to step out of his office to see someone’s new interesting finding (just be careful of the “thumbing”!). I would also like to thank Randy for allowing me the freedom to follow my interests and pursue outside research projects. I would like to thank Susan for the PCR training and guidance and Dave for his never ending enthusiasm about my project. I also thank Buffy and Ray for their support throughout my project. The work of Jackie Dawson and Mitch Lockhart added greatly to the completion of this project. I thank them for their excellent pioneering studies into the natural history of E. chaffeensis. Most of all I thank my mom Elaine Yabsley for supporting me all of these years and trusting that I would one day be finished with school. And to Sam…while it is impossible to express on paper how much I appreciate all the help, love, and support that she have given me during these past three years, I do thank her from the bottom of my heart. A countless number of individuals have provided help for this project by collecting for and adding to the SCWDS serum bank which provided many samples for this project. I would like to thank David Stallknecht, Britta Hanson, and others before them, for their hard work to provide such a valuable resource. Sarah Cross, Scott Danskin, iv and Mike Wimberly provided wonderful help with GIS and without their help, it may never have gotten done. Within the lab, I thank Danny for PCR guidance and Page Luttrell for help and support in the endless fight against the evil trypanosomes. I especially thank Andrea for bumbling through the past several years with me and providing a wonderful sounding board for any and all lab issues, which unfortunately involved a mysterious extra PCR band far too often. Andrew Allison, Dana Ambrose, Janaenne Brewton, Joe Corn, Caroline Duffy, Vivien Dugan, Robbie Edalgo, John Fisher, Joe Gaydos, Rick Gerhold, Nicole Gottdenker, Colin Hurd, Darryl Kavanaugh, Kali King, Cindy McElwee, Nate Mechlin, Gus Moore, Molly Murphy, Liz Nance, Rob Olsen, David Peterson, Cynthia Tate, Tracy Townsend, Marsha Ward, Lynn Lewis- Weis, Donna Wood, and Anna Yellin have all helped in various ways either with my research or as a friend, and I thank them. I especially thank Jennifer Smith for always having a smile and making the lab a happier place to work. Numerous people helped in the collection of samples including people from Alabama (Chris Cook, David Smith, Kevin McKinstry), Florida (H.W. Harter, III, Neil Eicholz, John Morgan, Steve Glass, Don Coyner, Nancy Dwyer), Georgia (Mike Dzimianski, Bill Cooper, Greg Waters, Doug Hoffman, George Steele, Wes Abler, Don McGowan, Nic Nicholson, Terry Kyle, Vic Vansant, Kent Kammermeyer), Kansas (Lloyd Fox, Greg Harris, Randy Whiteaker, Marc Gray, Carolyn Sutton, Todd Pesch), Kentucky (Jon Gassett, Karen Alexi, Mike Henshaw, David Yancey, Tony Black, Wayne Tamminga, Hope Carlton, Keith Parker, Lee Cope, Charlie Logsdon, Scott Busen, Eric Williams, Jonathan Day), Maryland (Jonathan Shaw, Kent Adams), Missouri (Jeff Berringer, John Freihaut), New Jersey (Douglas Roscoe), North Carolina (Evin v Stanford, Ken Knight, Mike Tipton, George Strader, David Rowe, David Sawyer, Robbie Norville, Jr., Thomas Padgett), Oklahoma (A. Alan Kocan), South Carolina (Katie Bruce, Paul Johns, Sidney Haskey, Charles Ruth, Jr., Jeff Witt, Mark Bara, Bob Warren, Billy Freeman, Sam Stokes, Jr.), Tennessee (Ben Layton), Texas (John Morrill, Ken Waldrup, Mary Humphrey), Louisiana (Tom Bourland, David Moreland, R. Robert Rackley), Virginia (Phil West, Todd Engelmeyer, Ronald Hughes, Brad Howard, Mac Walls, Cale Godfrey, Jimmy Conner, Jennifer Cromwell, W. Matt Knox, Bob Duncan, Dan Lovelace, Jay Jeffreys, David Allaben), West Virginia (Jim Crum), and others at state wildlife agencies and USDA-APHIS. Work was supported primarily by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (5 R01 AI044235-02). Further support was provided by the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Act (50 Stat. 917) and through sponsorship from fish and wildlife agencies in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ix LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 1 Literature Cited............................................................................................ 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................. 12 Human Monocytotropic Ehrlichiosis (HME)............................................... 12 Human Monocytotropic Ehrlichiosis (HME) Surveillance .......................... 16 Description and Phylogeny of Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Related Organisms ................................................................................... 20 Vertebrate Hosts of Ehrlichia chaffeensis ................................................. 22 Tick Vectors of Ehrlichia chaffeensis......................................................... 32 Molecular Characterization of Ehrlichia chaffeensis.................................. 37 Landscape