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Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis in ticks and rodents from urban and natural habitats of South-Western Slovakia
- Source :
- Parasites & Vectors
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- BioMed Central, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Background Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis (CNM) is an emerging tick-borne pathogen causing severe disease in immunocompromised patients. In Europe, Ixodes ricinus is the primary vector and rodents act as reservoir hosts. New data on the prevalence of CNM in ticks and rodents contribute to the knowledge on the distribution of endemic areas and circulation of the bacterium in natural foci. Methods Questing ticks were collected and rodents were trapped in urban/suburban and natural habitats in South-Western Slovakia from 2011 to 2014. DNA from questing and rodent-attached ticks and rodent tissues were screened for CNM by real-time PCR. Rodent spleen samples positive for CNM were characterised at the groEL gene locus. Spatial and temporal differences in CNM prevalence in ticks and rodents and co-infections of ticks with CNM and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were analysed. Results The presence of CNM was confirmed in questing and rodent-attached I. ricinus ticks and in rodents. Total prevalence in both ticks and rodents was significantly higher in the natural habitat (2.3 % and 10.1 %, respectively) than in the urban/suburban habitat (1.0 % and 3.3 %, respectively). No seasonal pattern in CNM prevalence in ticks was observed, but prevalence in rodents was higher in autumn than in spring. CNM was detected in Apodemus flavicollis, Myodes glareolus, Microtus arvalis and Micromys minutus, with the highest prevalence in M. arvalis (30 %). By screening CNM dissemination in rodent tissues, infection was detected in lungs of all specimens with positive spleens and in blood, kidney, liver and skin of part of those individuals. Infection with CNM was detected in 1.3 % of rodent attached I. ricinus ticks. Sequences of a fragment of the groEL gene from CNM-positive rodents showed a high degree of identity with sequences of the gene amplified from ticks and infected human blood from Europe. Only 0.1 % of CNM-positive questing ticks carried A. phagocytophilum. Ticks infected with CNM prevailed in the natural habitat (67.2 %), whereas ticks infected with A. phagocytophilum prevailed in the urban/suburban habitat (75.0 %). Conclusion The study confirmed the circulation of CNM between I. ricinus ticks and rodents in South-Western Slovakia, and indicates a potential risk of contracting human infections.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Male
Risk
Disease reservoir
Veterinary medicine
Slovakia
Ehrlichiosis
Ixodes ricinus
Rodent
Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis
030231 tropical medicine
030106 microbiology
Rodentia
Biology
Rodents
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
biology.animal
parasitic diseases
medicine
Animals
Humans
Microtus
Ecosystem
Disease Reservoirs
Tick-borne Pathogen
Ixodes
Coinfection
Research
biology.organism_classification
medicine.disease
bacterial infections and mycoses
Anaplasma phagocytophilum
3. Good health
Tick Infestations
Anaplasmataceae
Infectious Diseases
Apodemus
Anaplasmataceae Infections
Parasitology
Arachnid Vectors
Female
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17563305
- Volume :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Parasites & Vectors
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d38f5b851d0bf18bde6d26dfe43345e7