Human granulocytic Anaplasmosis: a case report in Mexico

Abstract

Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (HGA) (previously known as Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis, or HGE) is an infectious disease caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum (previously Rickettsia phagocytophilum in the 1950s, then Ehrlichia phagocytophilum until 2001), a gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria that is typically transmitted to humans by at least three kinds of ticks, including Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes pacificus, and Dermacentor variabilis, which also transmit Lyme Disease.1 Cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have increased steadily since it became a notifiable disease in 2000. The disease is curable if treatment is administered timely, and doxycycline is the number one choice of treatment even in pediatric patients.2