Low healthcare provider knowledge of ehrlichiosis and other tickborne diseases - United States, 2024.

Ehrlichiosis is a significant tick-borne disease in the United States, with a four-fold increase in incidence from 2000-2012 (Nichols Heitman et al., 2016). Because ehrlichiosis can be severe or fatal without treatment with doxycycline, healthcare providers (HCPs) need to know about this disease's geographic distribution and clinical presentation to diagnose and treat patients appropriately. In the 2024 Porter Novelli DocStyles survey, HCPs were asked seven questions on the occurrence of tickborne disease (TBD) among patients in their practice area and on the diagnosis and treatment of ehrlichiosis. A total of 1502 HCPs responded to the survey. HCPs in states with a high incidence of E. chaffeensis were nearly 3 times as likely to select ehrlichiosis as occurring in their practice area compared to HCPs in low-incidence states (OR = 2.8, 95% CI: 2.1-3.7), while the same comparison for Lyme disease incidence was >18 times (OR = 18.4, 95% CI: 11.0-30.8). Primary care physicians (PCPs) were more likely to respond correctly compared to other provider categories (nurse practitioners and physician assistants or pediatricians) to 5 of 6 questions. HCPs in high-incidence ehrlichiosis states were more likely to respond correctly to 4 of the 6 questions compared to HCPs in low-incidence states. These findings demonstrate a discrepancy in familiarity with different TBDs and knowledge of ehrlichiosis across provider categories, demonstrating a need for increased HCP awareness of the geographic distribution, diagnosis, and treatment of ehrlichiosis.