In retrospective analyses, we report 3 febrile patients in Japan who had seroconversion to antibodies against Ehrlichia chaffeensis antigens detected by using an immunofluorescence and Western blot. Our results provide evidence of autochthonous human ehrlichiosis cases and indicate ehrlichiosis should be considered a potential cause of febrile illness in Japan.
Keywords: Ehrlichia sp.; Japan; P28 outer membrane proteins; antibody; bacteria; ehrlichiosis; parasites; seroconversion; vector-borne infections; zoonoses.