Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with human granulocytic anaplasmosis in Slovenia.

@article{HGA human clinical case, abstract = {Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) has been recently recognized as an emerging tick-borne disease. Several reports indicate the presence of infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Europe. Between January 1996 and December 2004, 24 adult patients with proven HGA were identified in a prospective study conducted at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the etiology of febrile illnesses occurring within 30 days after a tick bite. The diagnosis of acute HGA was established from seroconversion in 18 (75\%) patients or at least a four-fold increase in antibody titers to A. phagocytophilum antigens in six (25\%) patients and molecular identification of ehrlichial organisms in 15 (62.5\%) patients. Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings were similar to those reported from the other European countries. All the patients had an acute febrile illness with headache, malaise, myalgia and/or arthralgia. Leukopenia was found in 16 (66.7\%) patients, thrombocytopenia in 20 (83.3\%), abnormal liver function test results in 23 (95.8\%), elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rates in 18 (75\%), and elevated concentration of C-reactive protein in 23 (95.8\%). The disease course was relatively mild; none of the patients died and no long-term sequelae were found during a follow-up of one year even though only 15 (62.5\%) were treated with doxycycline. At the examination one year after the first visit, 16/24 (66.7\%) patients tested seropositive (> or =1 : 256) for A. phagocytophilum antibody, and two years after the first visit positive titers were still present in 10/18 (55.6\%) patients.}, address = {Department of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Ljubljana, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. stanka.lotric-furlan@mf.uni-lj.si}, author = {Lotric-Furlan, S. and Rojko, T. and Petrovec, M. and Avsic-Zupanc, T. and Strle, F. }, citeulike-article-id = {1743209}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00508-006-0700-4}, issn = {0043-5325}, journal = {Wien Klin Wochenschr}, keywords = {anaplasmosis, clinical, epidemiology, human\_cases}, month = {November}, number = {21-22}, pages = {708--713}, posted-at = {2007-10-08 20:35:43}, priority = {2}, title = {Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with human granulocytic anaplasmosis in Slovenia.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00508-006-0700-4}, volume = {118}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - HGA human clinical case L3 - citeulike-article-id:1743209 TI - Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients with human granulocytic anaplasmosis in Slovenia. JF - Wien Klin Wochenschr VL - 118 IS - 21-22 SP - 708 EP - 713 AD - Department of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Ljubljana, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. stanka.lotric-furlan@mf.uni-lj.si SN - 0043-5325 N2 - Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) has been recently recognized as an emerging tick-borne disease. Several reports indicate the presence of infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Europe. Between January 1996 and December 2004, 24 adult patients with proven HGA were identified in a prospective study conducted at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the etiology of febrile illnesses occurring within 30 days after a tick bite. The diagnosis of acute HGA was established from seroconversion in 18 (75%) patients or at least a four-fold increase in antibody titers to A. phagocytophilum antigens in six (25%) patients and molecular identification of ehrlichial organisms in 15 (62.5%) patients. Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings were similar to those reported from the other European countries. All the patients had an acute febrile illness with headache, malaise, myalgia and/or arthralgia. Leukopenia was found in 16 (66.7%) patients, thrombocytopenia in 20 (83.3%), abnormal liver function test results in 23 (95.8%), elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rates in 18 (75%), and elevated concentration of C-reactive protein in 23 (95.8%). The disease course was relatively mild; none of the patients died and no long-term sequelae were found during a follow-up of one year even though only 15 (62.5%) were treated with doxycycline. At the examination one year after the first visit, 16/24 (66.7%) patients tested seropositive (> or =1 : 256) for A. phagocytophilum antibody, and two years after the first visit positive titers were still present in 10/18 (55.6%) patients. KW - anaplasmosis KW - clinical KW - epidemiology KW - human_cases AU - Lotric-Furlan, S AU - Rojko, T AU - Petrovec, M AU - Avsic-Zupanc, T AU - Strle, F PY - 2006/11// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00508-006-0700-4 ER -