1. Detection of "Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii" in ticks parasitizing bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) in the northern Brazilian Amazon.
- Author
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Luz HR, Muñoz-Leal S, de Carvalho WD, Castro IJ, Xavier BS, Toledo JJ, Hilário R, Acosta ICL, Faccini JLH, and Labruna MB
- Subjects
- Animals, Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins genetics, Brazil epidemiology, DNA, Bacterial genetics, Heat-Shock Proteins genetics, Ixodidae microbiology, Larva microbiology, Periplasmic Proteins genetics, Phylogeny, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Rickettsia genetics, Serine Endopeptidases genetics, Chiroptera microbiology, Chiroptera parasitology, Ornithodoros microbiology, Rickettsia isolation & purification, Rickettsia Infections epidemiology
- Abstract
A total of 482 bats representing 32 species and two families were captured in the Amazon forests of the Amapá state in northern Brazil. Nineteen Artibeus planirostris bats (3.9 %) were infested with 160 ticks, all identified as Ornithodoros hasei. Three pools of larvae were screened for rickettsial DNA via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting three rickettsial genes: gltA, ompA and htrA. Only one of them yielded an amplicons of the expected size for all three molecular assays. Comparisons of the obtained sequences including a phylogenetic analysis confirmed the occurrence of "Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii" in Brazil.
- Published
- 2019
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