Ehrlichia ruminantium
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Top of pagePreferred Scientific Name
- Ehrlichia ruminantium (Cowdry, 1925) Dumler et al., 2001
Other Scientific Names
- Cowdria ruminantium (Cowdry, 1925) Moshkovski, 1947
- Rickettsia ruminantium
Taxonomic Tree
Top of page- Domain: Bacteria
- Phylum: Proteobacteria
- Class: Alphaproteobacteria
- Order: Rickettsiales
- Family: Ehrlichiaceae
- Genus: Ehrlichia
- Species: Ehrlichia ruminantium
Distribution Table
Top of pageThe distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.
Last updated: 07 Jan 2022Continent/Country/Region | Distribution | Last Reported | Origin | First Reported | Invasive | Reference | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Africa |
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Algeria | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Angola | Absent | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Benin | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Botswana | Present | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Burkina Faso | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Burundi | Present, Localized | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Cabo Verde | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Cameroon | Present | ||||||
Central African Republic | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Chad | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Comoros | Present | Jan-Jun-2018 | |||||
Congo, Republic of the | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Djibouti | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Egypt | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Eritrea | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Eswatini | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Ethiopia | Absent | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Gambia | Present | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Ghana | Present | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Guinea | Present, Serological evidence and/or isolation of the agent | ||||||
Kenya | Present, Localized | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Lesotho | Present | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Liberia | Absent | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Libya | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Madagascar | Present | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Malawi | Absent | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Mauritania | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Mauritius | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Morocco | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Mozambique | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Namibia | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Niger | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Nigeria | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Réunion | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Rwanda | Absent | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Saint Helena | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
São Tomé and Príncipe | Present | CAB Abstracts Data Mining | |||||
Senegal | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Seychelles | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Somalia | Present, Localized | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
South Africa | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Sudan | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Tanzania | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Togo | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Tunisia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Zambia | Present | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Zimbabwe | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Asia |
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Afghanistan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Armenia | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Azerbaijan | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Bahrain | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Bangladesh | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Bhutan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Brunei | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Georgia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
India | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Indonesia | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Iran | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Iraq | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Israel | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Jordan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Kazakhstan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Kuwait | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Kyrgyzstan | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Laos | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Lebanon | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Malaysia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
-Peninsular Malaysia | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
-Sabah | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
-Sarawak | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Maldives | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Mongolia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Myanmar | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Nepal | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
North Korea | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Oman | Present | ||||||
Palestine | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Philippines | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Qatar | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Saudi Arabia | Absent | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Singapore | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
South Korea | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Sri Lanka | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Syria | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Taiwan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Tajikistan | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Thailand | Absent | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Turkmenistan | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
United Arab Emirates | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Uzbekistan | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Vietnam | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Europe |
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Albania | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Andorra | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Austria | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Belarus | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Belgium | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Bulgaria | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Croatia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Cyprus | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Czechia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Denmark | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Estonia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Faroe Islands | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Finland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
France | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Germany | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Greece | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2018 | |||||
Hungary | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Iceland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Ireland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Isle of Man | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Italy | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Jersey | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Latvia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Liechtenstein | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Lithuania | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Luxembourg | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Malta | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Moldova | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
Montenegro | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Netherlands | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
North Macedonia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Norway | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Poland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Portugal | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Romania | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Russia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2020 | |||||
San Marino | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Serbia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Serbia and Montenegro | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Slovakia | Absent | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Slovenia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Spain | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Sweden | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Switzerland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Ukraine | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
United Kingdom | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
-Northern Ireland | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
North America |
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Bahamas | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Barbados | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Belize | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Bermuda | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
British Virgin Islands | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Canada | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Cayman Islands | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Costa Rica | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Cuba | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Curaçao | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Dominica | Absent, No presence record(s) | ||||||
Dominican Republic | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
El Salvador | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Greenland | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Guadeloupe | Present | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Guatemala | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Haiti | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Honduras | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Jamaica | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Martinique | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Mexico | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Nicaragua | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Panama | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Present | CAB Abstracts Data Mining | |||||
Saint Lucia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Absent | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Trinidad and Tobago | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2018 | |||||
United States | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Oceania |
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Australia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Cook Islands | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Federated States of Micronesia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Fiji | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
French Polynesia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Kiribati | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2018 | |||||
Marshall Islands | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
New Caledonia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
New Zealand | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Palau | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2020 | |||||
Samoa | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Timor-Leste | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Tonga | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Vanuatu | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
South America |
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Argentina | Absent | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Bolivia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Brazil | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Chile | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Colombia | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Ecuador | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Falkland Islands | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
French Guiana | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Guyana | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2018 | |||||
Paraguay | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Peru | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Suriname | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 | |||||
Uruguay | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jul-Dec-2019 | |||||
Venezuela | Absent, No presence record(s) | Jan-Jun-2019 |
Pathogen Characteristics
Top of pageE. ruminantium is best demonstrated in fixed sections stained with Giemsa. It resembles a Gram-negative coccus, the colour varying from lilac purple to blue, varying between 0.2 and 2.5 µm in diameter. They most often occur in clumps (from 1 or 2 to several thousand) in a vacuole in the cytoplasm of endothelial cells. Generally the small and medium-sized organisms occur in large colonies, while the larger ones occur in small colonies. Pleomorphic forms; horseshoe, ring and bacillary shaped, are frequently seen in those colonies that contain very large organisms (Pienaar, 1970).
The ultrastructural morphology of Ehrlichia reveals that they occur within a bilaminar membrane-bound cytoplasmic vacuole, each organism consisting of a wall, made up of 2 membranes, and an internal structure consisting of electron dense and electron-pale areas. Some authors differentiate elementary, intermediate and reticulated bodies (Prozesky et al., 1986; Jongejan et al., 1991).
Taxonomy
Traditional rickettsial taxonomy assigned Cowdria ruminantium as the sole member of the genus Cowdria in the tribe Ehrlichieae. This was one of three tribes within the family Rickettsiaceae in the order Rickettsiales which initially encompassed all intracellular bacteria but from which the Chlamydiae were later removed (Moulders, 1984). The obligate intracellular nature of E. ruminantium, coupled with morphological features suggestive of a Chlamydia-like life cycle led to confusion as to its position in the ehrlichial hierarchy (Uilenberg, 1983). In 2001, Dumler et al. defined after 16S ribosomal DNA and groESL gene comparisons that all members of the tribes Ehrlichieae and Wolbachieae had to be transferred to the family Anaplasmataceae and that the family Rickettsiaceae had to be eliminated. In Anaplasmataceae, four genera are present Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Wolbachia and Neorickettsia. The genus Ehrlichia now includes E. ruminantium (formerly Cowdria ruminantium) but no longer Anaplasma bovis, phagocytophila, and HGE (belonging now to genus Anaplasma) and the genus neorickettsia (including Ehrlichia sennetsu and Ehrlichia risticii). In this reorganization, E. ruminantium is closer to E. chaffeensis, ewingii, muris, ovis and canis.
Disease(s) associated with this pathogen is/are on the list of diseases notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The distribution section contains data from OIE's WAHID database on disease occurrence. Please see the AHPC library for further information from OIE. Also see the website: www.oie.int.
Host Animals
Top of pageVectors and Intermediate Hosts
Top of pageVector | Source | Reference | Group | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|---|
Amblyomma astrion | Tick | Angola; Central African Republic; Congo Democratic Republic; Sao Tome and Principe | ||
Amblyomma cajennense | Tick | USA | ||
Amblyomma cohaerens | Tick | Central Africa; East Africa | ||
Amblyomma dissimile | Tick | USA | ||
Amblyomma gemma | Tick | East Africa | ||
Amblyomma hebraeum | Tick | South Africa | ||
Amblyomma lepidum | Tick | East Africa | ||
Amblyomma maculatum | Tick | USA | ||
Amblyomma marmoream | Tick | Africa | ||
Amblyomma marmoreum | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Amblyomma pomposum | Tick | Angola; Tanzania; Zambia | ||
Amblyomma sparsum | Tick | Africa | ||
Amblyomma tholloni | Tick | Africa | ||
Amblyomma variegatum | Tick | Africa; Caribbean | ||
Boophilus decoloratus | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Boophilus microplus | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Culicoides imicola | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Insect | ||
Glossina austeni | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | |||
Glossina pallidipes | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | |||
Hyalomma marginatum rufipes | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Hyalomma truncatum | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Rhipicephalus appendiculatus | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Rhipicephalus evertsi evertsi | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 | Tick | ||
Sarcoptes scabiei | MINED DATA; 16/11/01 14:00:0 |
References
Top of pageCowdry EV, 1925a. Studies on the etiology of heartwater I. Observation of a rickettsia, Rickettsia ruminantium (n. sp.), in the tissues of infected animals. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 42(2):231-252
Dumler JS, Barbet AF, Bekker CP, Dasch GA, Palmer GH, Ray SC, Rikihisa Y, Rurangirwa FR, 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, 51:2145-2165
Hart A, Prozesky L, Jacobs PD, Brett S, 1992. A transmission electron microscopical study of the life cycle of Cowdria ruminantium in vitro. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, 63(2):90
OIE Handistatus, 2002. World Animal Health Publication and Handistatus II (dataset for 2001). Paris, France: Office International des Epizooties
OIE Handistatus, 2003. World Animal Health Publication and Handistatus II (dataset for 2002). Paris, France: Office International des Epizooties
OIE Handistatus, 2004. World Animal Health Publication and Handistatus II (data set for 2003). Paris, France: Office International des Epizooties
OIE Handistatus, 2005. World Animal Health Publication and Handistatus II (data set for 2004). Paris, France: Office International des Epizooties
Pienaar JG, 1970. Electron microscopy of Cowdria (Rickettsia) ruminantium (Cowdry, 1926) in the endothelial cells of the vertebrate host. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 37(1):67-78
Plessis JLdu, Camus E, Oberem PT, Malan L, 1987. Heartwater serology: some problems with the interpretation of results. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 54(3):327-329; 19 ref
Prozesky L, Bezuidenhout JD, Paterson CL, 1986. Heartwater: an in vitro study of the ultrastructure of Cowdria ruminatium. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 53(3):153-159
Sulsona CR, Mahan SM, Barbet AF, 1999. The map1 gene of Cowdria ruminantium is a member of a multigene family containing both conserved and variable genes. Biochemical and Biophysiological Research Communications, 257(2):300-305
Villiers EP de, Brayton KA, Zweygarth E et al. , 2000. Genome size and genetic map of Cowdria ruminantium. Microbiology, 146(10):2627-2634
Distribution References
OIE Handistatus, 2005. World Animal Health Publication and Handistatus II (dataset for 2004)., Paris, France: Office International des Epizooties.
Distribution Maps
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