Isolation of Ehrlichia chaffeensis from wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) confirms their role as natural reservoir hosts.

Field and experimental studies have implicated white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as probable reservoir hosts for Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the causative agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis, but natural infection in deer has not been confirmed through isolation of E. chaffeensis. Thirty-five white-tailed deer collected from three Amblyomma americanum-infested populations in Georgia were examined for evidence of E. chaffeensis infection by serologic, molecular, cell culture, and xenodiagnostic methods. Twenty-seven deer (77%) had E. chaffeensis-reactive indirect fluorescent-antibody assay titers of > or = 1:64; and the blood, spleens, or lymph nodes of seven (20%) deer were positive in a nested PCR assay with E. chaffeensis-specific primers. E. chaffeensis was isolated in DH82 cell cultures from the blood of five (14%) deer, including two deer that were PCR negative. Combination of culture and PCR results indicated that six (17%) deer were probably rickettsemic and that nine (26%) were probably infected. Restriction digestion of PCR products amplified from deer tissues and cell culture isolates resulted in a banding pattern consistent with the E. chaffeensis 16S rRNA gene sequence. The sequences of all PCR products from deer tissues or cell culture isolates were identical to the sequence of the Arkansas type strain of E. chaffeensis. Xenodiagnosis with C3H mice inoculated intraperitoneally with deer blood, spleen, or lymph node suspensions was unsuccessful. When viewed in the context of previous studies, these findings provide strong evidence that E. chaffeensis is maintained in nature primarily by a tick vector-vertebrate reservoir system consisting of lone star ticks and white-tailed deer.