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Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia

Rickettsial pathogens are amongst the emerging and re-emerging vector-borne zoonoses of public health importance. Though traditionally considered to be transmitted by ixodid ticks, the role of argasid ticks as vectors of these pathogens is increasingly being recognized. While bat-feeding (Ornithodor...

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Autores principales: Chitanga, Simbarashe, Chambaro, Herman M., Moonga, Lavel C., Hayashida, Kyoko, Yamagishi, Junya, Muleya, Walter, Changula, Katendi, Mubemba, Benjamin, Simbotwe, Manyando, Squarre, David, Fandamu, Paul, Nalubamba, King S., Qiu, Yongjin, Hirofumi, Sawa, Simulundu, Edgar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8540723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34684256
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10101306
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author Chitanga, Simbarashe
Chambaro, Herman M.
Moonga, Lavel C.
Hayashida, Kyoko
Yamagishi, Junya
Muleya, Walter
Changula, Katendi
Mubemba, Benjamin
Simbotwe, Manyando
Squarre, David
Fandamu, Paul
Nalubamba, King S.
Qiu, Yongjin
Hirofumi, Sawa
Simulundu, Edgar
author_facet Chitanga, Simbarashe
Chambaro, Herman M.
Moonga, Lavel C.
Hayashida, Kyoko
Yamagishi, Junya
Muleya, Walter
Changula, Katendi
Mubemba, Benjamin
Simbotwe, Manyando
Squarre, David
Fandamu, Paul
Nalubamba, King S.
Qiu, Yongjin
Hirofumi, Sawa
Simulundu, Edgar
author_sort Chitanga, Simbarashe
collection PubMed
description Rickettsial pathogens are amongst the emerging and re-emerging vector-borne zoonoses of public health importance. Though traditionally considered to be transmitted by ixodid ticks, the role of argasid ticks as vectors of these pathogens is increasingly being recognized. While bat-feeding (Ornithodoros faini) and chicken-feeding (Argas walkerae) argasid ticks have been shown to harbor Rickettsia pathogens in Zambia, there are currently no reports of Rickettsia infection in southern Africa from warthog-feeding (Phacochoerus africanus) soft ticks, particularly Ornithodoros moubata and Ornithodoros porcinus. Our study sought to expand on the existing knowledge on the role of soft ticks in the epidemiology of Rickettsia species through screening for Rickettsia pathogens in warthog burrow-dwelling soft ticks from two national parks in Zambia. The tick species from which Rickettsia were detected in this study were identified as Ornithodoros porcinus, and an overall minimal Rickettsia infection rate of 19.8% (32/162) was observed. All of the sequenced Rickettsia were identified as Rickettsia lusitaniae based on nucleotide sequence similarity and phylogenetic analysis of the citrate synthase (gltA) and 17kDa common antigen (htrA) genes. Utilizing all of the gltA (n = 10) and htrA (n = 12) nucleotide sequences obtained in this study, BLAST analysis showed 100% nucleotide similarity to Rickettsia lusitaniae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all of the Zambian gltA and htrA gene sequences could be grouped with those of Rickettsia lusitaniae obtained in various parts of the world. Our data suggest that Rickettsia lusitaniae has a wider geographic and vector range, enhancing to our understanding of Rickettsia lusitaniae epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa.
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spelling pubmed-85407232021-10-24 Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia Chitanga, Simbarashe Chambaro, Herman M. Moonga, Lavel C. Hayashida, Kyoko Yamagishi, Junya Muleya, Walter Changula, Katendi Mubemba, Benjamin Simbotwe, Manyando Squarre, David Fandamu, Paul Nalubamba, King S. Qiu, Yongjin Hirofumi, Sawa Simulundu, Edgar Pathogens Article Rickettsial pathogens are amongst the emerging and re-emerging vector-borne zoonoses of public health importance. Though traditionally considered to be transmitted by ixodid ticks, the role of argasid ticks as vectors of these pathogens is increasingly being recognized. While bat-feeding (Ornithodoros faini) and chicken-feeding (Argas walkerae) argasid ticks have been shown to harbor Rickettsia pathogens in Zambia, there are currently no reports of Rickettsia infection in southern Africa from warthog-feeding (Phacochoerus africanus) soft ticks, particularly Ornithodoros moubata and Ornithodoros porcinus. Our study sought to expand on the existing knowledge on the role of soft ticks in the epidemiology of Rickettsia species through screening for Rickettsia pathogens in warthog burrow-dwelling soft ticks from two national parks in Zambia. The tick species from which Rickettsia were detected in this study were identified as Ornithodoros porcinus, and an overall minimal Rickettsia infection rate of 19.8% (32/162) was observed. All of the sequenced Rickettsia were identified as Rickettsia lusitaniae based on nucleotide sequence similarity and phylogenetic analysis of the citrate synthase (gltA) and 17kDa common antigen (htrA) genes. Utilizing all of the gltA (n = 10) and htrA (n = 12) nucleotide sequences obtained in this study, BLAST analysis showed 100% nucleotide similarity to Rickettsia lusitaniae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all of the Zambian gltA and htrA gene sequences could be grouped with those of Rickettsia lusitaniae obtained in various parts of the world. Our data suggest that Rickettsia lusitaniae has a wider geographic and vector range, enhancing to our understanding of Rickettsia lusitaniae epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa. MDPI 2021-10-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8540723/ /pubmed/34684256 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10101306 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chitanga, Simbarashe
Chambaro, Herman M.
Moonga, Lavel C.
Hayashida, Kyoko
Yamagishi, Junya
Muleya, Walter
Changula, Katendi
Mubemba, Benjamin
Simbotwe, Manyando
Squarre, David
Fandamu, Paul
Nalubamba, King S.
Qiu, Yongjin
Hirofumi, Sawa
Simulundu, Edgar
Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title_full Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title_fullStr Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title_full_unstemmed Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title_short Rickettsia lusitaniae in Ornithodoros Porcinus Ticks, Zambia
title_sort rickettsia lusitaniae in ornithodoros porcinus ticks, zambia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8540723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34684256
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10101306
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