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Rickettsia africae infection rates and transovarial transmission in Amblyomma hebraeum ticks in Mnisi, Bushbuckridge, South Africa

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Abstract

Rickettsia africae is a gram-negative bacterium, which causes African tick bite fever (ATBF) in humans. ATBF is a febrile disease mainly affecting travellers to southern Africa. This bacterium is known to be transmitted by Amblyomma hebraeum and Amblyomma variegatum ticks. In southern Africa, the principal vector is A. hebraeum. Febrile disease is a serious issue in the study area. There is a high prevalence of non-malaria illness caused by Rickettsia, so there is a need to have more knowledge on these species. Infection rates and transovarial transmission efficiency of R. africae in A. hebraeum ticks were investigated in a rural area of Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Adult and engorged A. hebraeum female ticks were collected from cattle. Larvae were collected by dragging a cloth at ground level using 100 steps, equivalent to an area of 100 m2. Tick identification was performed according to standard taxonomic keys using a microscope. Engorged ticks were incubated to oviposit and egg masses were collected. DNA was extracted from the ticks, larvae and egg masses, and screened for gltA and ompA genes, using quantitative real-time PCR and conventional PCR, respectively. Positive ompA amplicons were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis showed 99.8-100% identity with R. africae. Infection rates were 13.7 and 12.7% for adults and larvae, respectively. Transovarial transmission of R. africae in A. hebraeum from this study was 85.7%. The results provide a clear indication that people living in the study area and travellers that visit the area are at risk of contracting ATBF.

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Availability of data and material

Five sequences were obtained in this study, and have been deposited in GenBank. The sequence data is available on the website for National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi.

Code availability

The accession numbers of the sequences obtained in this study are: MT796429, MT796430, MT796431, MT796432 and MZ598666.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms J Wentzel, Dr I Conradie van Wyk at Han Hoheisen for their support in the laboratory and field during the study and also the Animal Health Technicians and Environmental monitors, Mr P. Mbhungele and Ms V Ndlovu, who assisted in the field. Without them the sample collections from the cattle would not be possible. Thank you to Ms Refilwe Bokaba who assisted with the farmer feedback meeting for this research. We are also thankful to the Belgian Directorate for Development Co-operation Framework FA4 (ITM/DECD), Belgium, for the funding.

Funding

This project received funding from the Belgian Development Cooperation (DGD) - Framework Agreement 4 DGD-ITM 2017-2021 (FA4) Collaboration grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vector and Vector-borne Diseases Research Programme, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, Gauteng, South Africa

    Estere Mazhetese, Zinathi Lukanji, Charles Byaruhanga, Luis Neves & Darshana Morar-Leather

  2. Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique

    Luis Neves

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  1. Estere Mazhetese
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  2. Zinathi Lukanji
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  3. Charles Byaruhanga
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  4. Luis Neves
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  5. Darshana Morar-Leather
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Contributions

EM, LN, ZN and DM designed the project, sample collection procedures and DNA extraction protocol, EM collected samples and performed DNA extraction and DNA quantification. EM and ZL performed the PCR and CB, EM and ZL performed sequence analysis, phylogenetic analysis and data analysis. EM prepared the manuscript with input from all co-authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Estere Mazhetese.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Approval to perform this project was granted by the Animal Ethics Committee (AEC) (Certificate number V045-18) and Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa. Approval was also obtained from the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), South Africa (Reference number 12/11/1/1/6(811) for collection and transportation of the samples from the collection sites to the laboratory for processing.

Consent to participate

This research did not involve any human participants. Before ticks were collected from the cattle at the two dip tanks, verbal consent was obtained from the cattle owners.

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Not applicable.

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Mazhetese, E., Lukanji, Z., Byaruhanga, C. et al. Rickettsia africae infection rates and transovarial transmission in Amblyomma hebraeum ticks in Mnisi, Bushbuckridge, South Africa. Exp Appl Acarol 86, 407–418 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00696-w

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