The incubation period for ehrlichiosis is approximately 9 days from the time of tick bite. Ehrlichiosis begins with fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, and nausea. A rash appears in over half the cases and the disease may be mistaken for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The symptoms are often quite general, but the infected individual is sometimes sick enough to seek medical attention.

Surveys show that the majority of people exposed do not seek treatment and likely never knew they were infected. Ehrlichiosis can be fatal. The organism is sensitive to antibiotics and treatment results in improvement in 24 to 48 hours. Recovery takes 3 weeks.

Symptoms:

• fever
• chills
• headache
• nausea
• muscle aches
• malaise
• rash, maculopapular
• rash, petechial (fine pinhead-sized hemorrhages in the skin)

• CBC shows decreased white blood cells (leukopenia), decreased platelets (thrombocytopenia)
• a granulocyte stain shows clumps of bacteria inside white blood cells
• the platelet count shows decreased platelets (thrombocytopenia)
• liver enzymes show elevated transaminase
• a fluorescent antibody test may turn positive for E. chaffeensis or granulocytic Ehrlichia