Rhipicephalus microplus and its vector-borne haemoparasites in Guinea: further species expansion in West Africa

Abstract

Rhipicephalus microplus is an ixodid tick with a pantropical distribution that represents a serious threat to livestock. West Africa was free of this tick until 2007, when its introduction into Benin was reported. Shortly thereafter, the further invasion of this tick into West African countries was demonstrated. In this paper, we describe the first detection of R. microplus in Guinea and list the vector-borne haemoparasites that were detected in the invader and indigenous Boophilus species.In 2018, we conducted a small-scale survey of ticks infesting cattle in three administrative regions of Guinea: N`Zerekore, Faranah, and Kankan. The tick species were identified by examining their morphological characteristics and by sequencing their COI gene and ITS-2 gene fragments. R. microplus was found in each studied region. In the ticks, we found DNA of Babesia bigemina, Anaplasma marginale, Anaplasma platys, and Ehrlichia spp. The results of this study indicate that R. microplus was introduced into Guinea with cows from Mali and/or Ivory Coast.

Molecular detection of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Ovaries and a Mummified Foetus of three cows with Historical Reproductive Problems in Northern Veracruz, Mexico

“…bigemina in Mexican livestock ovaries and a mummified foetus in Veracruz. These findings are not surprising given that both groups of pathogens are transmitted by the same vector, the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus [13]. According to the histopathological results, it is important to mention that the pathophysiology of these pathogens caused infertility [8].…”

Molecular detection of Ehrlichia spp. in ticks parasitizing wild lagomorphs from Spain: characterization of a novel Ehrlichia species

“…clone Tajikistan sequences KJ930191 and KJ930192 obtained from Hyalomma anatolicum from Tajikistan [ 25 ]; 91.7% identity with sequences MW054555 and MW054557 deposited for Ehrlichia sp. isolate YNT obtained from Rhipicephalus annulatus and Rhipicephalus geigyi from Guinea [ 26 ] was also found. In addition, the nucleotide sequences at the 16S rRNA partial gene showed a percentage identity ranging from 99.4 to 99.7% when compared to several deposited sequences of uncultured Ehrlichia spp .…”

Occurrence of ticks and tick-borne mixed parasitic microbiota in cross-bred cattle in District Lahore, Pakistan

“…T. annulata can be found in both erythrocytes and lymphocytes of their host and is transmitted by ticks of Hyalomma (H. anatolicum anatolicum, H. anatolicum excavatum, H. detritum and H. marginatum marginatum (Sayin et al, 2003). B. bigemina is presently considered as one of the most important constraints in production of livestock and transmitted by Rhipicephalus ticks (Makenov et al, 2021) and mainly infects the red blood cells (Ristic, 1981). A. marginale is caused by a group of obligate intracellular bacteria and are transmitted by Rhipicephalus ticks (Yan et al, 2020;Galay et al, 2021), and observed within erythrocytes (Jurkovic et al, 2020).…”