Poderá o carrapato transmitir a lepra?

Souza-Araujo, H. C. de

doi:10.1590/s0074-02761941000400002

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Few previous studies have associated mycobacteria with ticks. A possible role for ticks in leprosy epidemiology has long been suspected in Brazil (de Souja-Araujo and Miranda, 1942). Persistence for 15 days of the causative agent Mycobacterium leprae inside midgut cells was demonstrated in experimentally-infected Amblyomma cajennense sensu lato ticks (Ferreira et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of known and potentially pathogenic tick-borne microorganisms from European ixodid ticks using tick cell lines

Palomar

Premchand-Branker

Alberdi

et al. 2019

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

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Ticks harbour and, in many cases transmit to their vertebrate hosts, a wide variety of pathogenic, apathogenic and endosymbiotic microorganisms. Recent molecular analyses have greatly increased the range of bacterial species potentially associated with ticks, but in most cases cannot distinguish between surface contaminants, microorganisms present in the remains of the previous blood meal and truly intracellular or tissue-associated bacteria. Here we demonstrate how tick cell lines, primary cell cultures and organ cultures can be used to isolate and propagate bacteria from within embryonic and adult Ixodes ricinus , Dermacentor marginatus and Dermacentor reticulatus ticks originating from different parts of Europe. We isolated and partially characterised four new strains of Spiroplasma from The Netherlands, Spain and Poland, two new strains of Rickettsia raoultii from Russia and Poland, one strain of Rickettsia slovaca from Spain and a species of Mycobacterium from the UK. Comparison with published sequences showed that the Spiroplasma strains were closely related to Spiroplasma ixodetis and the Mycobacterium isolate belonged to the Mycobacterium chelonae complex, while the R. raoultii and R. slovaca strains were similar to previously-validated species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of known and potentially pathogenic tick-borne microorganisms from European ixodid ticks using tick cell lines

Palomar

Premchand-Branker

Alberdi

et al. 2019

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

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“…The potential for arthropod-derived cells to support viable bacteria in vitro is supported by the identification of an organism belonging to the Mycobacterium chelonae complex being recently isolated while generating a primary cell line from field-caught ticks (Palomar et al, 2019). Likewise, studies have examined the potential for ticks to acquire and transmit M. leprae (Souza-Araujo, 1941;Ferreira et al, 2018). In the United States, Amblyomma species of ticks transmit a wide variety of infectious organisms and feed on both armadillos and humans (Bechara et al, 2002;Sumner et al, 2007;Harris et al, 2017;Mertins et al, 2017;Suwanbongkot et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mycobacterium leprae Infection in Ticks and Tick-Derived Cells

et al. 2021

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Leprosy is a zoonosis in the southern United States involving humans and wild armadillos. The majority of patients presenting with zoonotic strains of Mycobacterium leprae note extensive outdoor activity but only rarely report any history of direct contact with wild armadillos. Whether M. leprae is transmitted to new vertebrate hosts through the environment independently or with the aid of other organisms, e.g., arthropod vectors, is a fundamental question in leprosy transmission. The objectives of this study were to assess the potential for ticks to transmit M. leprae and to test if viable M. leprae can be maintained in tick-derived cells. To evaluate tick transmission, nymphal Amblyomma maculatum ticks were injected with isolated M. leprae. Infection and transmission were assessed by qPCR. Ticks infected as nymphs harbored M. leprae through vertical transmission events (nymph to adult and adult to progeny); and, horizontal transmission of M. leprae to a vertebrate host was observed. Mycobacterium leprae DNA was detected in multiple tick life cycle stages. Likewise, freshly isolated M. leprae (Thai-53) was used to infect a tick-derived cell line, and enumeration and bacterial viability were assessed at individual time points for up to 49 days. Evaluations of the viability of long-term cultured M. leprae (Thai-53 and Br4923) were also assessed in a mouse model. Tick-derived cells were able to maintain viable M. leprae over the 49-day course of infection and M. leprae remained infectious within tick cells for at least 300 days. The results of this study suggest that ticks themselves might serve as a vector for the transmission of M. leprae and that tick cells are suitable for maintenance of viable M. leprae for an extended period of time.

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“…More recently, we have presented experimental evidence indicating that triatomine bugs, already associated with the transmission of another mycobacterial disease, Buruli ulcer [21], have potential as vectors of leprosy, being able to excrete infective bacilli in their feces at least 20 days after the blood meal [22]. The first report of the possibility of ticks acting as vectors of leprosy dates back to the 1940s, when acid-fast bacilli were observed in intestinal macerates of ticks of the genus Amblyomma after blood feeding on a skin lesion of a boy afflicted by the disease [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ticks as potential vectors of Mycobacterium leprae: Use of tick cell lines to culture the bacilli and generate transgenic strains

Ferreira¹,

Oliveira²,

Santos³

et al. 2018

PLoS Negl Trop Dis

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Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and frequently resulting in irreversible deformities and disabilities. Ticks play an important role in infectious disease transmission due to their low host specificity, worldwide distribution, and the biological ability to support transovarial transmission of a wide spectrum of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and protozoa. To investigate a possible role for ticks as vectors of leprosy, we assessed transovarial transmission of M. leprae in artificially-fed adult female Amblyomma sculptum ticks, and infection and growth of M. leprae in tick cell lines. Our results revealed M. leprae RNA and antigens persisting in the midgut and present in the ovaries of adult female A. sculptum at least 2 days after oral infection, and present in their progeny (eggs and larvae), which demonstrates the occurrence of transovarial transmission of this pathogen. Infected tick larvae were able to inoculate viable bacilli during blood-feeding on a rabbit. Moreover, following inoculation with M. leprae, the Ixodes scapularis embryo-derived tick cell line IDE8 supported a detectable increase in the number of bacilli for at least 20 days, presenting a doubling time of approximately 12 days. As far as we know, this is the first in vitro cellular system able to promote growth of M. leprae. Finally, we successfully transformed a clinical M. leprae isolate by inserting the reporter plasmid pCHERRY3; transformed bacteria infected and grew in IDE8 cells over a 2-month period. Taken together, our data not only support the hypothesis that ticks may have the potential to act as a reservoir and/or vector of leprosy, but also suggest the feasibility of technological development of tick cell lines as a tool for large-scale production of M. leprae bacteria, as well as describing for the first time a method for their transformation.

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Poderá o carrapato transmitir a lepra?

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Isolation of known and potentially pathogenic tick-borne microorganisms from European ixodid ticks using tick cell lines

Isolation of known and potentially pathogenic tick-borne microorganisms from European ixodid ticks using tick cell lines

Mycobacterium leprae Infection in Ticks and Tick-Derived Cells

Ticks as potential vectors of Mycobacterium leprae: Use of tick cell lines to culture the bacilli and generate transgenic strains

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