Abstract
Tick species distribution and prevalence of spotted fever group Rickettsiae (SFGR) in ticks were investigated in Zhejiang Province, China in 2010 and 2011. PCR was used to detect SFGR and positive amplicons were sequenced, compared to published sequences and phylogenic analysis was performed using MEGA 4.0. A total of 292 adult ticks of ten species were captured and 7.5 % (22/292) of the ticks were PCR-positive for SFG Rickettsia. The PCR-positive rates were 5.5 % (6/110) for Haemaphysalis longicornis, 3.6 % (1/28) for Amblyomma testudinarium and 16 % (15/94) for Ixodes sinensis, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses of gltA genes detected in ticks indicated that there are two dominating groups of SFGR. Sequences of group one were closely related to Rickettsia monacensis, whereas sequences of group two were closest related to Rickettsia heilongjiangensis and Rickettsia japonica, which are human pathogens. Our findings underline the importance of these ticks in public health surveillance in Zhejiang Province, China.
Highlights
Rickettsia is a genus of non-motile, gram-negative, intracellular bacteria transmitted by ticks, fleas, lice and mites and cause diseases in humans such as typhus, Rickettsial pox, Boutonneuse fever, African tick bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island spotted fever and Queensland tick typhus (Raoult and Roux 1997; Nathan et al 2007)
Tick species distribution and prevalence of spotted fever group Rickettsiae (SFGR) in ticks were investigated in Zhejiang Province, China in 2010 and 2011
In China, many SFGR belong to Rickettsia sibirica group, including two subspecies, i.e., R. sibirica sibirica, the agent of North Asian tick typhus detected in Dermacentor silvarum and Dermacentor sinicus in northern China, and Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae, the agent of lymphangitis-associated rickettsiosis isolated from Hyalomma asiaticum in Inner Mongolia (Yu et al 1993; Zhang et al 2006)
Summary
Rickettsia is a genus of non-motile, gram-negative, intracellular bacteria transmitted by ticks, fleas, lice and mites and cause diseases in humans such as typhus, Rickettsial pox, Boutonneuse fever, African tick bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island spotted fever and Queensland tick typhus (Raoult and Roux 1997; Nathan et al 2007). The genus Rickettsia is traditionally classified into the conventionally well-defined typhus group (TG), the spotted fever group (SFG), ancestral group and transitional group, based mainly on phenotypic and serological features (Gillespie et al 2008). Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, firstly isolated from D. silvarum ticks in Heilongjiang Province, can cause spotted fever in humans (Fournier et al 2003; Jiao et al 2005). Ticks are widely distributed in Zhejiang Province where humans are frequently bitten by ticks. This stimulated us to explore the tick species distribution in different areas of Zhejiang Province and the prevalence of SFGR species in these ticks
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