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Rickettsial agents in Egyptian ticks collected from domestic animals

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Abstract

To assess the presence of rickettsial pathogens in ticks from Egypt, we collected ticks from domestic and peridomestic animals between June 2002 and July 2003. DNA extracts from 1019 ticks were tested, using PCR and sequencing, for Anaplasma spp., Bartonella spp., Coxiella burnetii, Ehrlichia spp., and Rickettsia spp. Ticks included: 29 Argas persicus, 10 Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum, 55 Hyalomma anatolicum excavatum, 174 Hyalomma dromedarii, 2 Hyalomma impeltatum, 3 Hyalomma marginatum rufipes, 55 unidentified nymphal Hyalomma, 625 Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus, 49 Rhipicephalus sanguineus, and 17 Rhipicephalus turanicus. Ticks were collected predominantly (>80%) from buffalo, cattle, and camels, with smaller numbers from chicken and rabbit sheds, sheep, foxes, a domestic dog, a hedgehog, and a black rat. We detected Anaplasma marginale, Coxiella burnetii, Rickettsia aeschlimannii, and four novel genotypes similar to: “Anaplasma platys,” Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia spp. reported from Asian ticks, and a Rickettsiales endosymbiont of Ixodes ricinus.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Maria Badra, Hanafi A. Hanafi, Alaa Taher, Emad El Din Yehia, and Ahmed Fawzi for invaluable support provided in Egypt; Herbert Thompson and Rachel Priestley, CDC, Atlanta, GA, for providing the real-time PCR assay for Coxiella burnetii; and Robert Massung, CDC, Atlanta, GA, for designing the EC12a primer. Special thanks are extended to the team members from the Vector Biology Department at the Egyptian Ministry of Health for their great support in the field work for this study. This work was supported by GEIS, Work Unit Number No. 847705.82000.25 GB.E0018. The opinions and assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., MS G-13, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA

    Amanda D. Loftis, Will K. Reeves, John R. Moriarity & Gregory A. Dasch

  2. Navy Disease Vector Ecology and Control Center, Box 43, NAS, Jacksonville, FL, 3212-0043, USA

    Daniel E. Szumlas

  3. Vector Biology Research Program, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, FPO, Cairo, AE 09835-0007, Egypt

    Magda M. Abbassy & Ibrahim M. Helmy

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  1. Amanda D. Loftis
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  2. Will K. Reeves
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  3. Daniel E. Szumlas
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  4. Magda M. Abbassy
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  5. Ibrahim M. Helmy
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Correspondence to Amanda D. Loftis.

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Loftis, A.D., Reeves, W.K., Szumlas, D.E. et al. Rickettsial agents in Egyptian ticks collected from domestic animals. Exp Appl Acarol 40, 67–81 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-006-9025-2

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