Dataset Information

Distribution and molecular characterization of rickettsiae in ticks in Harbin area of Northeastern China.

ABSTRACT: Tick-borne rickettsioses are world-spreading infectious zoonoses. Ticks serve as reservoirs and vectors for Rickettsia and play a key role in transmission of rickettsioses. Most of the Chinese rickettsiosis patients are reported from Northeastern China but the distribution of tick and tick-borne Rickettsia species in Northeastern China remain poorly studied. In this study, a total of 1,286 ticks were captured from the seven counties of Harbin, an area in Northeastern China, and the tick-borne Rickettsia species were identified by PCR and sequencing of rrs, gltA, groEL, ompA and 17-kDa antigen-encoding genes. Of the 5 identified tick species, Haemaphysalis longicornis and Ixodes persulcatus were the predominant tick species in the livestock and vegetation, respectively. Rickettsia raoultii and "Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae" were the two detectable Rickettsia species in the ticks with a 28.8% positive rate but no rickettsiae were found in ticks of Haemaphysalis concinna. R. raoultii detected in 37.6% of the Dermacentor nuttalli, Dermacentor silvarum and H. longicornis ticks while "Ca. R. tarasevichiae" was only present in 22.8% of the I. persulcatus ticks. In particular, the positive rate of both R. raoultii and "Ca. R. tarasevichiae" in ticks from the livestock (40.7%) was significantly higher than that from the vegetation (19.5%). The results indicate that the tick and tick-borne Rickettsia species are diverse in different regions of Harbin due to geographic difference and the ticks from livestock may play a more important role in transmission of rickettsioses to human.

SUBMITTER: Shao JW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7272007 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Distribution and molecular characterization of rickettsiae in ticks in Harbin area of Northeastern China.

Shao Jian-Wei JW Zhang Xue-Lian XL Li Wen-Jun WJ Huang Hui-Lan HL Yan Jie J

PLoS neglected tropical diseases 20200604 6

Tick-borne rickettsioses are world-spreading infectious zoonoses. Ticks serve as reservoirs and vectors for Rickettsia and play a key role in transmission of rickettsioses. Most of the Chinese rickettsiosis patients are reported from Northeastern China but the distribution of tick and tick-borne Rickettsia species in Northeastern China remain poorly studied. In this study, a total of 1,286 ticks were captured from the seven counties of Harbin, an area in Northeastern China, and the tick-borne Ri ...[more]

PMID: 32497120

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Project description:BackgroundPet dogs are important companion animals that share the environment within households, and play an important role in local community life. In addition, pet dogs also are reservoirs of zoonotic agents, including Rickettsia spp., thus increasing the risk of rickettsial infections in humans. It's meaningful to investigate the epidemiology of rickettsial agents in pet dogs, and make contribute to the surveillance of rickettsioses in human in China.ResultsIn this study, a total of 496 pet dogs' blood samples and 343 ticks infested in pet dogs were collected, and the presence and prevalence of Rickettsia were determined by amplifying the partial gltA and 17-kDa genes, with an overall positive rate of 8.1 % in blood samples and 14.0 % in tick samples. In addition, the rrs, gltA, groEL, and ompA genes of rickettsial were also recovered to determine the species of Rickettsia detected furtherly. Sequencing blast and phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of three human pathogenic Rickettsia species (Rickettsia raoultii, Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae and Rickettsia felis) in samples associated with pet dogs. Moreover, all the sequences of Rickettsia that we obtained presented close relationship with others available in GenBank, and Rickettsia raoultii was the most predominant Rickettsia species infected in pet dogs' blood samples or in tick samples.ConclusionsThis study provides the molecular epidemiology data about the Rickettsia spp. infection associated with pet dogs in urban areas of Harbin city. Three rickettisae species pathogenic to humans were identified from pet dogs' blood and the infested ticks in urban areas of Harbin city. Considering the intimate relationship between human and pets, these results indicate the potential transmission risk of human rickettisal infections from pet dogs through ectoparasites, and also highlighting that more attention should be paid to rickettsial infection in pet dogs and the infested ticks from the "One health" perspective.

Dataset Information

Distribution and molecular characterization of rickettsiae in ticks in Harbin area of Northeastern China.

Publications

Distribution and molecular characterization of rickettsiae in ticks in Harbin area of Northeastern China.

Similar Datasets

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