Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, January 1998, p. 118-120, Vol. 5, No. 1
1071-412X/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
Received 4 August 1997/Returned for modification 2 October 1997/Accepted 4 November 1997
We describe a patient with human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), a diagnosis confirmed by PCR and immunoblot analysis. Unexpectedly, immunoglobulin G (IgG) directed towards an 80-kDa ehrlichial antigen (without detectable IgM) was present in the patient's serum in the first week of illness. Lyme disease immunoblots were reactive for IgG (but not IgM), a result indicative of prior exposure to the Lyme disease spirochete. Amino-terminal sequencing revealed that the 80-kDa ehrlichial antigen was an HSP-70 homolog similar to Borrelia burgdorferi HSP-70. We conclude that antibodies against B. burgdorferi HSP-70 may cross-react with the ehrlichial heat shock protein and that this possibility must be considered when serologic test results for HGE and Lyme disease are interpreted.
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