Rickettsia spp. in small mammals and their parasitizing ectoparasites from Saxony, Germany
| Autor: | Daniel Kiefer, Carolin Oltersdorf, Anna Obiegala, Matthias Kiefer, Dietlinde Woll, Cornelia Silaghi, Martin Pfeffer |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Veterinary medicine Ixodes ricinus General Veterinary animal diseases 030106 microbiology 030231 tropical medicine Ricinus Zoology Biology Tick bacterial infections and mycoses biology.organism_classification medicine.disease Spotted fever 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Rickettsia Dermacentor reticulatus parasitic diseases medicine Parasitology Natural reservoir Typhus |
| Zdroj: | Veterinary parasitology, regional studies and reports. 5 |
| ISSN: | 2405-9390 |
| Popis: | Rickettsiae are emerging pathogens causing various types of spotted fever and typhus and are mostly transmitted by arthropods to humans and animals. In order to investigate the distribution of Rickettsiae of the spotted fever group (SFG) in small mammals as potential reservoirs and in fleas and ticks from these animals as potential vectors, a total of 91 small mammals (seven species) were captured and their ectoparasites were collected at seven sites around Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, in 2010 and 2011. Altogether, 91 skin samples, 125 fleas (five species) and 363 ticks (four species) were investigated for DNA of Rickettsia spp. with a real-time PCR targeting the gltA gene. A total of 26 (28.6%) rodents, 5 (3.9%) fleas and 151 (41.6%) ticks were positive for Rickettsia spp. by real-time PCR. Altogether 42 positive tick-, and all positive small mammal- and flea-samples were further determined to Rickettsia species level with a conventional PCR targeting the ompB gene followed by sequencing. Sequencing of 14 positive rodent samples revealed R. helvetica (n=12) and R. raoultii (n=2). Three Rickettsia spp. were detected in ticks: Rickettsia raoultii (59.6%), R. monacensis (4.8%) and R. helvetica (33.3%). In total 85.6% of Dermacentor reticulatus ticks and 20.4% of Ixodes ricinus ticks were positive. Rickettsia raoultii was found in 4 of the 5 positive fleas. To our knowledge this is the first detection of R. raoultii in Myodes glareolus and of R. helvetica in Apodemus agrarius from Germany. The high prevalence of R. helvetica in small mammals suggests that they may play an important role as potential natural reservoir hosts. The high prevalence in engorged I. ricinus for R. helvetica and in D. reticulatus ticks for R. raoultii, mostly deriving from uninfected mammals, leads to the conclusion that those tick species may serve as vectors for those Rickettsia spp. Detection of R. raoultii in fleas, parasitizing on their small mammal hosts, may indicate accidental uptake during feeding on hosts with bacteraemia rather than an active involvement of fleas in the transmission cycle of this Rickettsia species. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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