Anaplasma platys (Ehrlichia platys) infection in a dog in France : description of the case, and characterization of the agent

The agent of infectious cyclic thrombocytopenia (ICT), Ehrlichia platys, was first described in 1978 in Florida, USA, by HARVEY and others [18]. The organism appeared in blood platelets as morulae composed of one to eight subunits [12, 13, 18, 28]. Very recently, the genus Ehrlichia was reorganized on the basis of genetic studies, and E. platys, as well as organisms of the Ehrlichia phagocytophila group, now belong the genus Anaplasma [11]. Actually, A. platys is described in America, (different States of the USA [12, 27], Venezuela [36]), Europe, (France [3, 4]), Greece [26], Spain [34], and Germany as an imported parasite [14]), MiddleEast, (Israel [16, 17]), Asia (Taiwan [9], Japan [21, 29], China [20], Thailand [36]), and Oceania (Australia [8, 22]). In the USA and Taiwan, natural or experimental infection by A. platys causes no or few clinical signs [5, 9, 12, 18, 28], although uveitis was described in one case [15], bleeding disorders in another [40], and lymph node enlargement in all experimentally infected dogs in a study [2]. Biological signs include cyclic thrombocytopenia and parasitemia, [5, 9, 13, 18], blood platelets dysfunction [13], and inconstantly anemia, leukopenia, hypoalbuminemia and hypergammaglobulinemia [1, 5].