Dataset Information

Spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ixodid ticks in wild environment in Southern Italy.

ABSTRACT: Ixodidae ticks are vectors and reservoirs of several species of rickettsiae, and tick-borne rickettsioses are reported worldwide. This study was aimed to verify the distribution of spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ticks in a wild environment, the National Park of Gargano, where there is proximity between wild and domestic animals, and which is within an endemic area for rickettsiosis. Ticks were collected from animals or vegetation, morphologically identified and tested by a PCR targeting the 17kDa gene, and by a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) targeting ompB gene. Out of 34 tested tick pools, 2 from Dermacentor marginatus, 1 from Ixodes ricinus, and 1 from Rhipicephalus turanicus resulted positive. Nucleotide sequences of amplicons showed high similarity with sequences from Rickettsia slovaca, Rickettsia raoultii, Rickettsia helvetica, and Rickettsia felis. The overall calculated infection rate was 26.19 per 1,000, while it rose up to 107.77 when only D. marginatus was considered. The results highlight the association among Ri. slovaca, Ri. raoultii, D. marginatus and wild boars from which infected ticks were collected. Finally, the study shows the low efficacy of the previously described LAMP method for the detection of Rickettsia spp., when compared to PCR, making urgent the development of most effective LAMP protocols.

SUBMITTER: Raele DA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5822307 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ixodid ticks in wild environment in Southern Italy.

Raele Donato Antonio DA Galante Domenico D Pugliese Nicola N Salandra Giovanna La G Cafiero Maria Assunta MA

MicrobiologyOpen 20171018 1

Ixodidae ticks are vectors and reservoirs of several species of rickettsiae, and tick-borne rickettsioses are reported worldwide. This study was aimed to verify the distribution of spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ticks in a wild environment, the National Park of Gargano, where there is proximity between wild and domestic animals, and which is within an endemic area for rickettsiosis. Ticks were collected from animals or vegetation, morphologically identified and tested by a PCR t ...[more]

PMID: 29047217

Similar Datasets

Project description:Birds are important hosts and dispersers of parasitic arthropods and vector-borne zoonotic pathogens. Particularly migratory species may carry these parasites over long distances in short time periods. Migratory hotspots present ideal conditions to get a snapshot of parasite and pathogen diversity of birds migrating between continents. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence and diversity of Rickettsia spp. in ticks collected from birds at a migratory hot-spot in the Danube Delta, Romania, eastern Europe.DNA was extracted from ticks that were collected from migratory birds in the Danube Delta during migratory seasons in 2011-2012. Two 360 bp fragments of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and a 381 bp fragment Gene gltA were PCR amplified and analyzed by sequence analysis (performed at Macrogen Europe, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Nucleotide sequences were compared to reference sequences available in the GenBank database, using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool.Four hundred ticks of four different species were found on 11 bird species. The prevalence of Rickettsia spp. infection was 14 % (56/400, CI: 11.7-29.1), with significantly more nymphs hosting rickettsial infection compared to larvae (48 vs 7; P?<?0.001). Significantly more ticks in nymphal stage were hosting Rickettsia spp. infection in spring, than in autumn. Four different genospecies were found: R. monacensis (29 ticks), R. helvetica (13), R. massiliae (3) and R. slovaca (2). The seasonal distribution of different Rickettsia spp. was heterogeneous; with most of the R. monacensis-infected ticks were found in spring, while more R. helvetica were found in autumn than spring. R. massiliae was found only in autumn and R. slovaca was found only in spring.This study has shown that birds migrating through eastern Europe may carry ticks infected with a high diversity of rickettsial pathogens, with four Rickettsia spp. recorded. Migratory direction was important for pathogen burden, with seasonal differences in the occurrence of individual Rickettsia species. Here we report the first individual records of different Rickettsia spp. in H. concinna (R. monacensis), I. arboricola (R. helvetica, R. massiliae) and I. redikorzevi (R. helvetica) and also the first geographical record of occurrence of R. massiliae in Romania, representing the easternmost observation on the continent.

Dataset Information

Spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ixodid ticks in wild environment in Southern Italy.

Publications

Spotted fever group rickettsiae associated with ixodid ticks in wild environment in Southern Italy.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets