This book is a direct result of a symposium held in December 1988, in
Washington, DC, honoring Professor Emeritus Miodrag Ristic for his
contributions to rickettsial disease research, in general, and, to
ehrlichiosis, in particular. He and his colleagues in the United States
Army Medical Research Unit brought to the world's attention an epidemic
of ehrlichiosis, that occurred in German shepherd dogs during the
Vietnam War. The group was able to culture the microorganism Ehrlichia
canis and to fulfill Koch's postulates. They eventually developed an
indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test which has been adopted
internationally. The same group joined a national effort to decipher
another mysterious disease known as Potomac horse fever (PHF). They used
the same technology developed by Nyindo in Dr. Ristic's laboratory to
isolate, characterize, and again develop a similar IFA test for PHF.
Today PHF has been diagnosed, at least serologically, practically across
the entire United States, in some provinces of Canada, and reports are
beginning to trickle in of its occurrence in European countries. Thus,
the etiologic agent of PHF, now named after Professor Ristic, Ehrlichia
risticii, historically places this scientist side by side with the other
2 "R's", i. e., Ricketts and da Rochalima. Ehrlichiosis is not limited
to domestic animals. Sennetsu rickettsiosis, long known by Japanese
scientists as an imitator of "infectious mononucleosis," was
subsequently shown to be caused by an ehrlichial agent, through
collaborative efforts among the United States Army, the University of
Illinois, and Dr.