Human granulocytic anaplasmosis in a Single University Hospital in the Republic of Korea

To date, only a few studies have analyzed the clinical characteristics and genetic features of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) in South Korea. Thus, in this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of HGA and methods used for clinical diagnosis. The clinical characteristics of patients with HGA were studied retrospectively. We reviewed the medical charts of 21 confirmed patients with HGA admitted to the Chosun University Hospital, located in Gwangju, South Korea. Twenty-one HGA patients visited the hospital 2–30 days (median 7 days) after the onset of symptoms. Fourteen patients (66.7%) had fever, which was alleviated 2 h (range 0–12.75 h) after starting treatment with doxycycline. Of the 18 patients who underwent peripheral blood (PB) smear test, only one (5.6%) had morulae. Additionally, only 4/17 patients (23.5%) had morulae in the PB smear reconducted after the confirmation of anaplasmosis. All 21 patients recovered without significant complications. As per results of the blood tests conducted at the time of admission, 7/21 (33.3%) and 5/21 (23.8%) patients showed at least 1:16 and 1:80 of IgM and IgG titers, respectively. Most HGA patients in Korea recovered without significant complications. The indirect immunofluorescence antibody diagnosis or morulae identification for HGA in this study had low sensitivity in the early stage of the disease.