Patent ID: 6923963

Claim:
A method for diagnosing an infection with E. chaffeensis in a patient comprising: (a) providing a serum sample from the patient; (b) providing one or more of the following: i.) an isolated or purified outer membrane protein of E. chaffeensis or an immunoreactive fragment thereof, wherein said outer membrane protein is selected from the OMP-1 protein, the OMP-1R protein, the OMP-1S protein, the OMP-1T protein, the OMP-1U protein, the OMP-1V protein, the OMP-1W protein, the OMP-1W protein, the OMP-1X protein, the OMP-1Y protein, the OMP-1Z protein, and the OMP-1H protein, ii) an isolated or purified outer membrane protein of E. canis, or an immunoreactive fragment thereof, wherein said outer membrane protein is selected from the P30 protein or a variant thereof having the same immunological characteristics as the P30 protein, the P30a protein, the P30-1 protein, the P30-2 protein, the P30-3 protein, the P30-4 protein, the P30-5 protein, the P30-6 protein, the P30-7 protein, the P30-8 protein, the P30-9 protein, the P30-11 protein, and the P20-12 protein, and the P30-13 protein; (c) contacting the serum sample with the outer membrane protein or immunoreactive fragment thereof; and (d) assaying for the formation of a complex between antibodies in the serum sample and the protein or immunoreactive fragment thereof, wherein formation of said complex is indicative of infection with E. chaffeensis or E. canis.