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Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum

Coxiella burnetii (Derrick) Philip, the causative agent of Q fever, is mainly transmitted by aerosols, but ticks can also be a source of infection. Transstadial and transovarial transmission of C. burnetii by Hyalomma lusitanicum (Koch) has been suggested. There is a close relationship between this...

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Autores principales: González, Julia, González, Marta G., Valcárcel, Félix, Sánchez, María, Martín-Hernández, Raquel, Tercero, José M., Olmeda, A. Sonia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7693340/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33113791
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9110884
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author González, Julia
González, Marta G.
Valcárcel, Félix
Sánchez, María
Martín-Hernández, Raquel
Tercero, José M.
Olmeda, A. Sonia
author_facet González, Julia
González, Marta G.
Valcárcel, Félix
Sánchez, María
Martín-Hernández, Raquel
Tercero, José M.
Olmeda, A. Sonia
author_sort González, Julia
collection PubMed
description Coxiella burnetii (Derrick) Philip, the causative agent of Q fever, is mainly transmitted by aerosols, but ticks can also be a source of infection. Transstadial and transovarial transmission of C. burnetii by Hyalomma lusitanicum (Koch) has been suggested. There is a close relationship between this tick species, wild animals and C. burnetii but the transmission in a natural environment has not been demonstrated. In this study, we collected 80 engorged nymphs of H. lusitanicum from red deer and wild rabbits. They moult to adults under laboratory conditions and we feed them artificially through silicone membranes after a preconditioning period. C. burnetii DNA was tested in ticks, blood and faeces samples using real-time PCR. The pathogen was found in 36.2% of fed adults, demonstrating that transstadial transmission from nymph to adult occurs in nature. The presence of DNA in the 60.0% of blood samples after artificial feeding confirms that adults transmit the bacteria during feeding. Further studies are needed about co-feeding and other possible transmission routes to define the role of this tick species in the cycle of C. burnetii.
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spelling pubmed-76933402020-11-28 Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum González, Julia González, Marta G. Valcárcel, Félix Sánchez, María Martín-Hernández, Raquel Tercero, José M. Olmeda, A. Sonia Pathogens Brief Report Coxiella burnetii (Derrick) Philip, the causative agent of Q fever, is mainly transmitted by aerosols, but ticks can also be a source of infection. Transstadial and transovarial transmission of C. burnetii by Hyalomma lusitanicum (Koch) has been suggested. There is a close relationship between this tick species, wild animals and C. burnetii but the transmission in a natural environment has not been demonstrated. In this study, we collected 80 engorged nymphs of H. lusitanicum from red deer and wild rabbits. They moult to adults under laboratory conditions and we feed them artificially through silicone membranes after a preconditioning period. C. burnetii DNA was tested in ticks, blood and faeces samples using real-time PCR. The pathogen was found in 36.2% of fed adults, demonstrating that transstadial transmission from nymph to adult occurs in nature. The presence of DNA in the 60.0% of blood samples after artificial feeding confirms that adults transmit the bacteria during feeding. Further studies are needed about co-feeding and other possible transmission routes to define the role of this tick species in the cycle of C. burnetii. MDPI 2020-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7693340/ /pubmed/33113791 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9110884 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Brief Report
González, Julia
González, Marta G.
Valcárcel, Félix
Sánchez, María
Martín-Hernández, Raquel
Tercero, José M.
Olmeda, A. Sonia
Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title_full Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title_fullStr Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title_full_unstemmed Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title_short Transstadial Transmission from Nymph to Adult of Coxiella burnetii by Naturally Infected Hyalomma lusitanicum
title_sort transstadial transmission from nymph to adult of coxiella burnetii by naturally infected hyalomma lusitanicum
topic Brief Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7693340/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33113791
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9110884
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