1887

Abstract

A total of 1485 adult ticks were collected from mammalian hosts in south-eastern Sardinia, Italy, during the years 2007–2008. Ticks were identified and tested by PCR analysis for presence of species of the spotted fever group, , , , species and species. Among all tick species examined (, , , , , and ), only produced negative results. A total of 22 pools belonging to the three tick species (0.9 %), (4.5 %) and (100 %) were positive for species, while a total of five pools belonging to (0.09 %), (16.7 %) and (7.8 %) were positive for Five pools of (1.8 %) were positive for Positivity for was found in seven pools belonging to three tick species: (0.5 %), (0.3 %) and (4.4 %). Finally, four pools belonging to (0.09 %), (0.7 %) and (1.1 %) were positive for species. species DNA was not detected in any of the tick pools examined. Data presented here increase our knowledge on tick-borne diseases in Sardinia, and provide a useful contribution to understanding their epidemiology.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.021543-0
2011-01-01
2024-03-28
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/jmm/60/1/63.html?itemId=/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.021543-0&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Alberti A., Addis M. F., Sparagano O., Zobba R., Chessa B., Cubeddu T., Pinna Parpaglia M. L., Ardu M., Pittau M. 2005a; Anaplasma phagocytophilum , Sardinia, Italy. Emerg Infect Dis 11:1322–1324 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alberti A., Zobba R., Chessa B., Addis M. F., Sparagano O., Pinna Parpaglia M. L., Cubeddu T., Pintori G., Pittau M. 2005b; Equine and canine Anaplasma phagocytophilum strains isolated on the island of Sardinia (Italy) are phylogenetically related to pathogenic strains from the United States. Appl Environ Microbiol 71:6418–6422 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Angelakis E., Billeter S. A., Breitschwerdt E. B., Chomel B. B., Raoult D. 2010; Potential for tick-borne bartonelloses. Emerg Infect Dis 16:385–391 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Beninati T., Lo N., Noda H., Esposito F., Rizzoli A., Favia G., Genchi C. 2002; First detection of spotted fever group rickettsiae in Ixodes ricinus from Italy. Emerg Infect Dis 8:983–986 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bernasconi M. V., Casati S., Péter O., Piffaretti J. C. 2002; Rhipicephalus ticks infected with Rickettsia and Coxiella in Southern Switzerland (Canton Ticino). Infect Genet Evol 2:111–120 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Billeter S. A., Levy M. G., Chomel B. B., Breitschwerdt E. B. 2008; Vector transmission of Bartonella species with emphasis on the potential for tick transmission. Med Vet Entomol 22:1–15 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Black W. C., Piesman J. 1994; Phylogeny of hard- and soft-tick taxa (Acari: Ixodida) based on mitochondrial 16S rDNA sequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91:10034–10038 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Christova I., Van De Pol J., Yazar S., Velo E., Schouls L. 2003; Identification of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species, and spotted fever group Rickettsiae in ticks from Southeastern Europe. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 22:535–542 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Cotté V., Bonnet S., Le Rhun D., Le Naour E., Chauvin A., Boulouis H. J., Lecuelle B., Lilin T., Vayssier-Taussat M. 2008; Transmission of Bartonella henselae by Ixodes ricinus . Emerg Infect Dis 14:1074–1080 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Coutinho M. T., Lacerda L., Sterzik A., Fujiwara R. T., Botelho J. R., De Maria M., Genaro O., Linardi P. M. 2005; Participation of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari: Ixodidae) in the epidemiology of canine visceral leishmaniasis. Vet Parasitol 128:149–155 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Dantas-Torres F. 2008; The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae ): from taxonomy to control. Vet Parasitol 152:173–185 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Duh D., Punda-Polic V., Trilar T., Petrovec M, Bradarić N, Avsic-Zupanc T. 2006; Molecular identification of Rickettsia felis -like bacteria in Haemaphysalis sulcata ticks collected from domestic animals in southern Croatia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1078:347–351 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Foley J. E., Nieto N. C., Adjemian J., Dabritz H., Brown R. N. 2008; Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection in small mammal hosts of Ixodes ticks, western United States. Emerg Infect Dis 14:1147–1150 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Genchi C., Manfredi M. T. 1999; Tick species infesting ruminants in Italy: ecological and bio-climatic factors affecting the different regional distribution. Parassitologia 41:41–45
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Keysary A., Massung R. F., Inbar M., Wallach A. D., Shanas U., Mumcuoglu K. Y., Waner T. 2007; Molecular evidence for Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Israel. Emerg Infect Dis 13:1411–1412 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Kolbert C. 1996; Detection of the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis by PCR. In PCR Protocols for Emerging Infectious Diseases pp 106–111 Edited by Persing D. H. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology;
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Lucey D., Dolan M. J., Moss C. W., Garcia M. 1992; Relapsing illness due to Rochalimaea henselae in immunocompetent hosts: implication for therapy and new epidemiological associations. Clin Infect Dis 14:683–688 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Manilla G. 1998 Acari Ixodidae, Fauna d'Italia Bologna: Edizioni Calderini;
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Mastrandrea S., Mura M. S., Tola S., Patta C., Tanda A., Porcu R., Masala G. 2006; Two cases of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Sardinia, Italy, confirmed by PCR. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1078:548–551 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Merino F. J., Nebreda T., Serrano J. L., Fernández-Soto P., Encinas A., Pérez-Sánchez R. 2005; Tick species and tick-borne infections identified in population from a rural area of Spain. Epidemiol Infect 133:943–949 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Murphy G. L., Ewing S. A., Whitworth L. C., Fox J. C., Kocan A. A. 1998; A molecular and serologic survey of Ehrlichia canis , E. chaffeensis , and E. ewingii in dogs and ticks from Oklahoma. Vet Parasitol 79:325–339 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Noda H., Munderloh U. G., Kurtti T. J. 1997; Endosymbionts of ticks and their relationship to Wolbachia spp. and tick-borne pathogens of humans and animals. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:3926–3932
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Ortuño A., Quesada M., López S., Miret J., Cardeñosa N., Castellà N, Anton E, Segura F. 2006; Prevalence of Rickettsia slovaca in Dermacentor marginatus ticks removed from wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) in northeastern Spain. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1078:324–327 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Papadopoulos B., Morel P. C., Aeschlimann A. 1996; Ticks of domestic animals in the Macedonia region of Greece. Vet Parasitol 63:25–40 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Parola P., Raoult D. 2001; Ticks and tick-borne bacterial diseases in humans: an emerging infectious threat. Clin Infect Dis 32:897–928 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Psaroulaki A., Ragiadakou D., Kouris G., Papadopoulos B., Chaniotis B., Tselentis Y. 2006; Ticks, tick-borne rickettsiae , and Coxiella burnetii in the Greek island of Cephalonia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1078:389–399 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Ruscio M., Cinco M. 2003; Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Italy. First report on two confirmed cases. Ann N Y Acad Sci 990:350–352 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Sander A., Posselt M., Böhm N., Ruess M., Altwegg M. 1999; Detection of Bartonella henselae DNA by two different PCR assays and determination of the genotypes of strains involved in histologically defined cat scratch disease. J Clin Microbiol 37:993–997
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Sarih M., M'Ghirbi Y., Bouattour A., Gern L., Baranton G., Postic D. 2005; Detection and identification of Ehrlichia spp. in ticks collected in Tunisia and Morocco. J Clin Microbiol 43:1127–1132 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Spyridaki I., Psaroulaki A., Loukaides F., Antoniou M. 2002; Isolation of Coxiella burnetii by a centrifugation shell vial assay from ticks collected in Cyprus: detection by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses. Am J Trop Med Hyg 66:86–90
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Stein A., Raoult D. 1992; Detection of Coxiella burnetii by DNA amplification using polymerase chain reaction. J Clin Microbiol 30:2462–2466
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Stich R. W., Rikihisa Y., Ewing S. A., Needham G. R., Grover D. L., Jittapalapong S. 2002; Detection of Ehrlichia canis in canine carrier blood and in individual experimentally infected ticks with a p30 -based PCR assay. J Clin Microbiol 40:540–546 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Sting R., Breitling N., Oehme R., Kimmig P. 2004; The occurrence of Coxiella burnetii in sheep and ticks of the genus Dermacentor in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Dtsch Tierarztl Wochenschr 111:390–394
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Unver A., Perez M., Orellana N., Huang H., Rikihisa Y. 2001; Molecular and antigenic comparison of Ehrlichia canis isolates from dogs, ticks, and a human in Venezuela. J Clin Microbiol 39:2788–2793 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  35. van Eys G. J., Schoone G. J., Kroon N. C., Ebeling S. B. 1992; Sequence analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes and its use for detection and identification of Leishmania parasites. Mol Biochem Parasitol 51:133–142 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Walker J. B., Keirans J. E., Horak I. G. 2000 The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acari, Ixodidae). A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Walter S. D., Hildreth S. W., Beaty B. J. 1980; Estimation of infection rates in populations of organisms using pools of variable size. Am J Epidemiol 112:124–128
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Yeruham I., Hadani A., Galker F. 2000; The life cycle of Rhipicephalus bursa Canestrini and Fanzago, 1877 (Acarina: ixodidae) under laboratory conditions. Vet Parasitol 89:109–116 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.021543-0
Loading
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.021543-0
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error