Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Molecular survey of arthropod-borne pathogens in sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus), Central Europe

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Parasitology Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the study, we screened a total of 399 adult sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) for the presence of RNA and DNA specific for arboviral, bacterial, and protozoan vector-borne pathogens. All investigated keds were negative for flaviviruses, phleboviruses, bunyaviruses, Borrelia burgdorferi, Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma phagocytophilum, “Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis,” and Babesia spp. All ked pools were positive for Bartonella DNA. The sequencing of the amplified fragments of the gltA and 16S-23S rRNA demonstrated a 100 % homology with Bartonella melophagi previously isolated from a sheep ked and from human blood in the USA. The identification of B. melophagi in sheep keds in Central Europe highlights needs extending a list of hematophagous arthropods beyond ticks and mosquitoes for a search of emerging arthropod-borne pathogens.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  • Bemis DA, Kania SA (2007) Isolation of Bartonella sp. from sheep blood. Emerg Infect Dis 13:1565–1567

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Casati S, Sager H, Gern L, Piffaretti JC (2006) Presence of potentially pathogenic Babesia sp. for human in Ixodes ricinus in Switzerland. Ann Agric Environ Med 13(1):65–70

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chen-Yi CH, Bao-Gui J, Er Chen Q, Fang Z, Shu-Qing Z, Hong Y, Wei L, Cao W-C (2011) Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus). Tibet, China. Vet Microbiol 149:526–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Courtney JW, Kostelnik LM, Zeidner NS, Massung RF (2004) Multiplex real-time PCR for detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi. J Clin Microbiol 42:3164–3168

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • de Bruin A, van Leeuwen AC, Jahfari S, Takken W, Foldvari M, Dremmel L, Sprong H, Foldvari G (2015) Vertical transmission of Bartonella schoenbuchensis in Lipoptena cervi. Parasites Vectors 8:176

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Diaz MH, Bai Y, Malania L, Winchell JM, Kosoy MY (2012) Development of a novel genus-specific real-time PCR assay for detection and differentiation of Bartonella species and genotypes. J Clin Microbiol 50:1645–1649

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Fertner ME, Mølbak L, Boye Pihl TP, Fomsgaard A, Bødker R (2012) First detection of tick-borne ‘Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis’ in Denmark 2011. Euro Surveill 17:20096

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Halos L, Jamal T, Maillard R, Girard B, Gullot J, Chomel B, Vayssier-Taussat M, Boulouis HJ (2004) Role of Hippoboscidae flies as potential vectors of Bartonella spp. infecting wild and domestic ruminants. Appl Environ Microbiol 70:6302–6305

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hornok S, de la Fuente J, Biro N, de Mera IGF, Meli LM, Elek V, Gonczi E, Meili T, Tanczos B, Farkas R, Lutz H, Hofmann-Lehmann R (2011) First molecular evidence of Anaplasma ovis and Rickettsia spp. in keds (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) of sheep and wild ruminants. Vector-borne and Zoonot Dis 11:1319–1321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang C, Slater B, Campbell W, Howard J, White D (2001) Detection of arboviral RNA directly from mosquito homogenates by reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction. J Virol Meth 94:121–128

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hubálek Z, Černý V, Mittermayer T, Kilik J, Halouzka J, Juřicová Z, Kuhn I, Bárdoš V (1986) Arbovirological survey in Silica plateau area, Roznava district, Czechoslovakia. J Hyg Epidem Microbiol Immunol 30:87–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosoy M, Sheff K, Bai Y, Enscore R, Dodge J, Irkhin A, Smirnov G (2004) Isolation and identification of a new Bartonella species from a sheep ked, The 4th International Conference on Bartonella as Emerging Pathogens. Uppsala University, Uppsala, p 28

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosoy M, Bai Y, Enscore R, Rozales Rizzo M, Bender S, Popov V, Albayrak L, Fofanov Y, Chomel B (2016) Bartonella melophagi in blood of domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) from southwestern US: Cultures, genetic characterization, and ecological connections. Vet Microbiol 190:43–49

  • Kumsa B, Parola P, Raoult D, Socolovschi C (2014) Bartonella melophagi in Melophagus ovinus (sheep ked) collected from sheep in northern Ethiopia. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 37:69–76

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luedke AJ, Jochim MM, Bowne JG (1965) Preliminary blue-tongue transmission with the sheep ked Melophagus ovinus (L.). Can J Comp Med Vet Sci 29:229–231

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Maggi RG, Diniz PP, Cadenas MB, Breitschwerdt EB (2006) The international canine vector-borne disease symposium; April 18th-20th, 2006. The use of molecular diagnostic techniques to detect Anaplasma, Bartonella and Ehrlichia species in arthropods or patients, Billesley, pp 9–14

  • Maggi RG, Kosoy M, Mintzer M, Breitschwerdt EB (2009) Isolation of ‘Candidatus Bartonella melophagi’ from human blood. Emerg Infect Dis 15:66–68

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Matsuno K, Weisend C, Kajihara M, Matysiak C, Williamson BN, Simuunza M, Mweeene S, Takada A, Tesh RB, Ebihara H (2015) Comprehensive molecular detection of tick-borne phleboviruses leads to the retrospective identification of taxonomically unassigned bunyaviruses and the discovery of a novel member of the genus Phlebovirus. J Virol 89:594–604

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mehlhorn H, D’Haese J, Mencke N, Hansen O (2001) In vivo and in vitro effects of imidacloprid on sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus): a light and electron microscopic study. Parasitol Res 87:331–336

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelder MP, Lloyd JE, Loftis AD, Reeves WK (2008) Coxiella burnetii in wild-caught filth flies. Emerg Infect Dis 14:1002–1004

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Postic D, Assous MV, Grimont PAD, Baranton G (1994) Diversity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato evidenced by restriction-fragment-length-polymorphism of rrf (5S) rrl (23S) intergenic spacer amplicons. Int J Syst Bacteriol 44:743–752

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Regnery RL, Spruill CL, Plikaytis BD (1991) Genotypic identification of rickettsiae and estimation of intraspecies sequence divergence for portions of two rickettsial genes. J Bacteriol 173:1576–1589

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Scaramozzino N, Crance JM, Jouan A, DeBriel DA, Stoll F, Garin D (2001) Comparison of flavivirus universal primer pairs and development of a rapid, highly sensitive heminested reverse transcription-PCR assay for detection of flaviviruses targeted to a conserved region of the NS5 gene sequences. J Clin Microbiol 39:1922–1927

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Small RW (2005) A review of Melophagus ovinus (L.), the sheep ked. Vet Parasitol 130:141–155

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Operational Programme Education for Competiveness project CEB (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/20.0183) and projects MUNI/A/1437/2014 and MUNI/A/1013/2015.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences, Kvetna 8, CZ-603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Ivo Rudolf, Lenka Betášová, Kristýna Venclíková, Hana Blažejová, Jan Mendel & Zdeněk Hubálek

  2. Department of Experimental Biology, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Ivo Rudolf, Kristýna Venclíková & Zdeněk Hubálek

  3. Spytihněv 47, Zlín, Czech Republic

    Vlastimil Bischof

  4. Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

    Kristýna Venclíková

  5. Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA

    Michael Kosoy

Authors
  1. Ivo Rudolf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lenka Betášová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Vlastimil Bischof
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kristýna Venclíková
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hana Blažejová
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jan Mendel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Zdeněk Hubálek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Michael Kosoy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ivo Rudolf.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rudolf, I., Betášová, L., Bischof, V. et al. Molecular survey of arthropod-borne pathogens in sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus), Central Europe. Parasitol Res 115, 3679–3682 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5175-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5175-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation