Ehrlichia ruminantium

Ehrlichia ruminantium
Ehrlichia ruminantium bacteria within cell of brain of sheep that died of heartwater in Africa.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Pseudomonadota
Class: Alphaproteobacteria
Order: Rickettsiales
Family: Ehrlichiaceae
Genus: Ehrlichia
Species:
E. ruminantium
Binomial name
Ehrlichia ruminantium
(Cowdry 1925) Dumler et al. 2001[1]
Synonyms
  • Cowdria ruminantium (Cowdry 1925) Moshkovski 1947 (Approved Lists 1980)

Heartwater (also known as cowdriosis, nintas, and ehrlichiosis) is a tick-borne rickettsial disease.[2] The name is derived from the fact that fluid can collect around the heart or in the lungs of infected animals.[3] It is caused by Ehrlichia ruminantium (formerly Cowdria ruminantium)—an intracellular Gram-negative coccal bacterium (also referred to as Rickettsia ruminantium). The disease is spread by various Amblyomma ticks, and has a large economic impact on cattle production in affected areas. There are four documented manifestations of the disease, these are acute, peracute, subacute, and a mild form known as heartwater fever. There are reports of zoonotic infections of humans by E. ruminantium, similar to other Ehrlichia species, such as those that cause human ehrlichiosis.[4][5][6]

  1. ^ Dumler JS, Barbet AF, Bekker CP, Dasch GA, Palmer GH, Ray SC, et al. (November 2001). "Reorganization of genera in the families Rickettsiaceae and Anaplasmataceae in the order Rickettsiales: unification of some species of Ehrlichia with Anaplasma, Cowdria with Ehrlichia and Ehrlichia with Neorickettsia, descriptions of six new species combinations and designation of Ehrlichia equi and 'HGE agent' as subjective synonyms of Ehrlichia phagocytophila". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 51 (Pt 6): 2145–2165. doi:10.1099/00207713-51-6-2145. PMID 11760958.
  2. ^ Peter TF, Burridge MJ, Mahan SM (May 2002). "Ehrlichia ruminantium infection (heartwater) in wild animals". Trends in Parasitology. 18 (5): 214–8. doi:10.1016/s1471-4922(02)02251-1. PMID 11983602.
  3. ^ "Heartwater". Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  4. ^ Allsopp MT, Louw M, Meyer EC (December 2005). "Ehrlichia ruminantium: an emerging human pathogen?". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1063 (1): 358–60. Bibcode:2005NYASA1063..358A. doi:10.1196/annals.1355.060. PMID 16481543. S2CID 35037984.
  5. ^ Gaddy HG (August 2020). "Using local knowledge in emerging infectious disease research". Social Science & Medicine. 258: 113107. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113107. PMC 7292947. PMID 32563166.
  6. ^ Esemu SN, Ndip LM, Ndip RN (2011-01-01). "Ehrlichia species, probable emerging human pathogens in sub-Saharan Africa: environmental exacerbation". Reviews on Environmental Health. 26 (4): 269–79. doi:10.1515/REVEH.2011.034. PMID 22435325. S2CID 26448157.