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First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants

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A Correction to this article was published on 15 March 2022

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Abstract

Rickettsioses is a group of emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia caused by Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria in the Rickettsiae tribe. However, there is limited information regarding the vertebrate hosts of Rickettsia spp. in this region. This study aims to detect and identify Rickettsia agents present in wildlife and domesticated animals in Malaysia using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequencing of citrate synthase gene (gltA), followed by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis. Rickettsia sp. was detected in 2 (0.67%) of 300 wildlife and domesticated animal blood samples. The positive samples were derived from a goat (5.56% of 18) and a sheep (2.22% of 45). Both sequences demonstrated 99.64% sequence similarity to Rickettsia asembonensis, a species that is known to infect humans and macaques. This study reported for the first time the detection of R. asembonensis in sheep and goats in Malaysian farms, suggesting this species may be adapting to a wider range of animals, specifically farm animals. Therefore, this bacterium may pose a zoonotic threat to the local community particularly to the farmworkers or animal handlers. The low infection rate of this pathogen across different animals highlighted the need of continuous surveillance of emerging and reemerging pathogens among animal populations.

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Fig. 1

Data availability

The corresponding author declares that all information as regards this study is available online for public view.

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Funding

This work was supported by funding from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, under the Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) niche area vector and vector-borne diseases (MO002–2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Higher Institution of Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Van Lun Low, Siti Sarah Azhar & Sazaly AbuBakar

  2. Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Siti Sarah Azhar

  3. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Tiong Kai Tan & Yvonne Ai Lian Lim

  4. Veterinary Research Institute, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

    Premaalatha Bathmanaban & Mohd Saeid Faizah Hanim

  5. Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Sazaly AbuBakar

  6. Department of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, Putrajaya, Malaysia

    Panchadcharam Chandrawathani, Hassan Nizam Quaza Nizamuddin, Ngah Hamid Akma & Mohd Noor Norlizan

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  1. Van Lun Low
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  2. Siti Sarah Azhar
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  11. Yvonne Ai Lian Lim
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Contributions

Conceived or designed study: VLL, TKT, SAB, PC, HNQN, MSFH, NHA, MNN, YAIL. Performed research: VLL, SSA, TKT, PB. Analyzed data: VLL, SSA, TKT, PB. Contributed new methods or models: SAB, PC, HNQN, MSFH, NHA, MNN, YAIL. Wrote the paper: VLL, SSA, TKT.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yvonne Ai Lian Lim.

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Permission to publish this paper was obtained from the Department of Veterinary Services, Malaysia.

Statement of animal right

This study was approved by the Department of Veterinary Services, Malaysia [Reference Number: JPV:BPI/100–1/12JLDIXXXX(15)].

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Low, V.L., Azhar, S.S., Tan, T.K. et al. First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants. Vet Res Commun 46, 979–983 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-09904-9

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