An Atypical Presentation of a Severe Case of Anaplasma Phagocytophilum

Abstract

We report a case of a 79-year-old male presenting to a South Bronx hospital with complaints of fever, shortness of breath, severe thrombocytopenia, hematuria, elevated liver enzymes, and acute renal failure. The patient rapidly progressed to acute hypoxic respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. Treatment was delayed for six days because the tick-borne disease was not considered in the differential. Empirical treatment of tick-borne illnesses should be considered in the proper clinical setting, and travel history should be relevant in any patient presenting with fever. Delay in appropriate treatment results in the onset of more severe illness.

Tick-Borne Pathogens Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia odocoilei, and Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in Blacklegged Ticks Widespread across Eastern Canada

“…Borrelia miyamotoi [3,4], Babesia spp. (Bspp) [5][6][7], Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Aph) [8][9][10][11], Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis [12], and Powassan Virus [13][14][15]. These pathogens can co-occur in ticks and be transmitted simultaneously during a tick bite [16,17].…”

­­Primary Detection of the Establishment of Blacklegged Ticks, Ixodes scapularis, in British Columbia, Canada

“…These human pathogens include many genospecies or genomospecies within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl) complex [2,3], as well as Babesia spp. (Bspp) [4][5][6], Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Aph) [7,8], Borrelia miyamotoi [9,10], Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis [11], and the virus of Powassan Virus Disease [12][13][14].…”

Molecular Detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia odocoilei, Babesia species and Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in Songbirds

“…Epidemiologically, I. scapularis carries and transmits at least six tick-borne, zoonotic pathogens that include several genospecies within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl) complex [2,3], Borrelia miyamotoi [4,5], Babesia spp. (Bspp) [6][7][8], Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Aph) [9,10], Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis [11], and the virus of Powassan Virus Disease [12][13][14]. Ecologically, I. Scott JD, et al (2022) J Biomed Res Environ Sci, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.37871/jbres1619 scapularis parasitizes at least 82 bird species [15] and 55 mammalian hosts, including humans [7,[16][17][18][19][20][21].…”