J Vet Sci.  2016 Sep;17(3):353-360. 10.4142/jvs.2016.17.3.353.

Tick-borne rickettsial pathogens in questing ticks, removed from humans and animals in Mexico

• Sosa-Gutierrez CG
• Vargas-Sandoval M
• Torres J
• Gordillo-Pérez G

• KMID: 2413135
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2016.17.3.353

Abstract

Tick-borne rickettsial diseases (TBRD) are commonly encountered in medical and veterinary clinical settings. The control of these diseases is difficult, requiring disruption of a complex transmission chain involving a vertebrate host and ticks. The geographical distribution of the diseases is related to distribution of the vector, which is an indicator of risk for the population. A total of 1,107 ticks were collected by tick dragging from forests, ecotourism parks and hosts at 101 sites in 22 of the 32 states of Mexico. Collected ticks were placed in 1.5 mL cryovials containing 70% ethanol and were identified to species. Ticks were pooled according to location/host of collection, date of collection, sex, and stage of development. A total of 51 ticks were assayed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to confirm species identification using morphological methods. A total of 477 pools of ticks were assayed using PCR techniques for selected tick-borne pathogens. Anaplasma phagocytophilum was the most commonly detected pathogen (45 pools), followed by, Ehrlichia (E.) canis (42), Rickettsia (R.) rickettsii (11), E. chaffeensis (8), and R. amblyommii (1). Rhipicephalus sanguineus was the tick most frequently positive for selected pathogens. Overall, our results indicate that potential tick vectors positive for rickettsial pathogens are distributed throughout the area surveyed in Mexico.

Keyword

Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Ehrlichia canis; Ehrlichia chaffeensis; Rickettsia rickettsia; ticks

MeSH Terms

Anaplasma/classification/genetics/*physiology
Anaplasmosis/epidemiology/microbiology
Animals
Arachnid Vectors/*microbiology
DNA, Bacterial/genetics
Ehrlichia/classification/genetics/*physiology
Ehrlichiosis/epidemiology/microbiology/veterinary
Female
Humans
Ixodidae/*microbiology
Male
Mexico/epidemiology
Phylogeny
Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics
Rickettsia/classification/genetics/*physiology
Rickettsia Infections/epidemiology/microbiology/veterinary
Sequence Analysis, DNA/veterinary
Tick-Borne Diseases/*epidemiology/microbiology/veterinary
DNA, Bacterial
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Distribution of selected tick species collected in Mexico.

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  Fig. 2 Distribution of selected tick-borne pathogens detected by PCR in ticks collected via tick drag and from human and animal hosts in Mexico.

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  Fig. 3 Phylogenetic tree of selected tick-borne pathogens detected in ticks collected via tick drag and from human and animal hosts in Mexico.

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