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. 2003 Nov;10(6):1059-64.
doi: 10.1128/cdli.10.6.1059-1064.2003.

Detection of antibodies to Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis antigens in sera of Korean patients by western immunoblotting and indirect immunofluorescence assays

Jin-Ho Park  1 , Eun-Jeong Heo, Kyoung-Seong Choi, J Stephen Dumler, Joon-Seok Chae
Affiliations

Detection of antibodies to Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis antigens in sera of Korean patients by western immunoblotting and indirect immunofluorescence assays

Jin-Ho Park et al. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2003 Nov.

Abstract

Two hundred seventy one serum samples from South Korean patients were tested to detect antibodies against Anaplasma phagocytophilum (the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis agent) and Ehrlichia chaffeensis (the human monocytic ehrlichiosis agent) by indirect fluorescent-antibody assay (IFA) and the Western blot assay. These sera were collected from patients with symptoms of high fever. The rate of seropositivity for Orientia tsutsugamushi was 50.9% by IFA at the Public Health & Environmental Research Institute and National Institute of Health in South Korea. By IFA, 30 (11.1%) and 39 (14.4%) of the serum samples reacted with A. phagocytophilum and E. chaffeensis antigens, respectively. By the Western blot assays, 24 (8.9%) and 29 (10.7%) of the serum samples reacted with purified A. phagocytophilum and E. chaffeensis protein antigens, respectively. This report strengthens other evidence regarding the presence of A. phagocytophilum and E. chaffeensis infections in humans in South Korea.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Flow diagram for diagnosis of ehrlichiosis or anaplasmosis from febrile patients by PHERI and NIH in South Korea.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
E. chaffeensis, A. phagocytophilum, and O. tsutsugamushi antibodies in human sera collected from patients in Jeonnam and Jeonbuk, South Korea, in 2001 and 2002. n, number of patients examined.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Western blot assay of electrophoretically separated gradient-purified A. phagocytophilum (A) and E. chaffeensis (B) antigens reacted with IFA-positive sera. Lanes: M, protein size marker; −, negative control; +, positive control; the lane numbers represent sample numbers. (A) Twenty-five serum specimens (83.3%) reacted with an A. phagocytophilum antigen of approximately 44 kDa presumed to be Msp2. The reaction patterns were divided into three groups: 11 serum specimens reacted only with the 44-kDa antigen, 8 reacted with the 44-kDa antigen and another antigen between 60 and 85 kDa, and 5 reacted with the 44-kDa antigen and two other antigens between 60 and 160 kDa. (B) Twenty-nine (74.4%) serum specimens reacted with purified E. chaffeensis antigens. The reaction patterns of 32 serum specimens were also divided into three groups: 15 reacted only with antigens of 28 kDa, 10 reacted with two antigens between 28 and 35 kDa, and 4 reacted with three or four antigens between 26 and 100 kDa.
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