Ixodid diversity and detection of spotted fever group Rickettsia spp. in ticks collected on birds in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Autor: Nogueira BCF; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil., Cassiano LA; Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil., Martins TF; Instituto Pasteur, Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil., Yamatogi RS; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil., Ribon R; Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil., Campos AK; Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: artur.kanadani@ufv.br.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2022 Dec; Vol. 236, pp. 106673. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Aug 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106673
Abstrakt: The Brazilian Atlantic Forest helds one of the most diverse and unique avifauna in the world. Many vertebrate species are reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens, and birds are an important group among them due to their mobility which facilitates the dispersion of ticks and the infectious agents they carry. This study brings data on the tick diversity parasitizing birds and the molecular detection of Rickettsia spp. in these arthropods. Birds (n = 773) were captured, identified, and banded at Mata do Paraíso Research, Training, and Environmental Education Center located in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Birds were checked for the presence of ticks, which were individually collected, identified, and molecularly processed through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the detection of Rickettsia spp. A total of 130 individuals were infested by ticks, and 479 tick specimens were collected, showing a seasonal distribution of the life stages throughout the year. Ticks were identified as Amblyomma longirostre (59/479); Amblyomma calcaratum (20/479); Amblyomma varium (3/479); Amblyomma sculptum (2/479) and Amblyomma spp. larvae (395/479). Seasonal distribution of the life stages of ticks was observed along the year and significant negative correlations were found between temperature and collected ticks and temperature and infested birds. From the evaluated samples of ticks, 25.44% (n = 43/169) scored positive for Rickettsia spp., and sequence analysis indicated high nucleotide identity with Rickettsia rhipicephali, R. massiliae, R. africae and R. honei marmionii. The potential for dispersal of ticks by birds added to the aggressiveness of species of the genus Amblyomma and the zoonotic potential of some species of Rickettsia are quite worrying when we consider that the study area is widely attended by students, researchers, people from the city and neighboring municipalities.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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