The relationship between ehrlichiosis and the development of hematologic malignancies.

ABSTRACT

Viral and bacterial infections cause chronic inflammation and produce bacterial metabolites that may lead to carcinogenesis. Ehrlichiosis is an intracellular infection that primarily infects white blood cells. Given that infections can lead to cancer, and that Ehrlichia has tropism for white blood cells, it can be deduced that Ehrlichia may cause hematologic malignancies, such as acute leukemia. A prospective study was performed that tested the blood of ten patients with acute leukemia for prior exposure to Ehrlichia. The RT-PCR that was performed did not detect Ehrlichia DNA in any of the ten samples. Therefore, based on this small study, one cannot conclude that Ehrlichia can lead to hematologic malignancies.