Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus Sensu Lato) Infection with Endosymbiont and Human Pathogenic Rickettsia spp., in Northeastern México

Abstract

Of the documented tick-borne diseases infecting humans in México, Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii, is responsible for most fatalities. Given recent evidence of brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l., as an emerging vector of human RMSF, we aimed to evaluate dogs and their ticks for rickettsiae infections as an initial step in assessing the establishment of this pathosystem in a poorly studied region of northeastern México while evaluating the use of dogs as sentinels for transmission/human disease risk. We sampled owned dogs living in six disadvantaged neighborhoods of Reynosa, northeastern México to collect whole blood and ticks. Of 168 dogs assessed, tick infestation prevalence was 53%, composed of exclusively Rh. sanguineus s. l. (n = 2170 ticks). Using PCR and sequencing, we identified an overall rickettsiae infection prevalence of 4.1% (n = 12/292) in ticks, in which eight dogs harbored at least one infected tick. Rickettsiae infections included Rickettsia amblyommatis and Rickettsia parkeri, both of which are emerging human pathogens, as well as Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae. This is the first documentation of pathogenic Rickettsia species in Rh. sanguineus s.l. collected from dogs from northeastern México. Domestic dog infestation with Rickettsia-infected ticks indicates ongoing transmission; thus, humans are at risk for exposure, and this underscores the importance of public and veterinary health surveillance for these pathogens.

Triangulating the New Frontier of Health Geo-Data: Assessing Tick-Borne Disease Risk as an Occupational Hazard among Vulnerable Populations

“…Many respondents report country of origin as Mexico, with full-time residence in Texas. Case reports demonstrate a diverse group of Borrelia species found among LD patients from Mexico [ 26 ], as well as Bison [ 27 ], and a notable amount of rickettsia in canines in Northeastern Mexico [ 28 ].…”

Monitoring of evolution of resistance to commercial acaricidal products in Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae) from Goiânia, Goiás State, Brazil

“…Living with domestic dogs infested by this tick results in occasional parasitism in humans, mainly due to its immature forms, with an increase in the number of reports of this parasitism, as well as in the diagnosis of emerging human pathogens in this tick, including Rickettsia rickettsii, R, conorii, R. parkeriand, R. amblyommatis, in addition to Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae, etiological agents of diseases of the etiological group of spotted fever in several parts of the world. 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] A large sum of resources has been employed in the use of chemical acaricides as the main way to combat ticks, however, the indiscriminate use of these compounds in tick control has led to a large increase in selection pressure for acaricide resistance. Development of resistance in R. sanguineus to arsenical acaricides, 19 organophosphates, carbamates 20 and organochlorines 21 was observed in the 70's.…”

Molecular detection of pathogenic bacteria in Rhipicephalus sanguineus (sensu lato) ticks from Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the brown dog tick is the most common ectoparasite of dogs in the world (Dantas-Torres 2010) and also in Indonesia (Hadi and Rusli 2006). R. sanguineus tick is a vector of many disease agents, such as Coxiella burnetii (Khalili et al 2018), Ehrlichia canis (Rochelle et al 2018), Rickettsia conorii and Rickettsia rickettsia (Solomon et al 2022). The tick can carry and spread a range of blood-borne diseases that can affect both animals and humans.…”