Francisella-Like Endosymbiont inDermacentor reticulatusCollected in Portugal

Abstract

In Portugal, recent studies have confirmed the presence of Francisella tularensis in Dermacentor reticulatus. Bacterial endosymbionts with significant homology to F. tularensis have been described in several species of ticks. In this work we identified Francisella-like endosymbionts in D. reticulatus ticks (39%), confirming the presence of these bacteria in Portugal. This finding should be considered in future studies using molecular approaches to detect Francisella prevalence in ticks and environmental samples.

Association of Different Genetic Types of Francisella-Like Organisms with the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni) and the American Dog Tick (Dermacentor variabilis) in Localities Near Their Northern Distributional Limits

“…Although F. tularensis was not detected in D. andersoni or D. variabilis in our study, we did detect the DNA of FLEs in a large proportion of adult ticks at each locality. This was not surprising given that FLEs have been reported from many genera of ticks (10,41,46,47,51,58,59). The combined results of our SSCP and DNA sequencing analyses revealed the existence of 10 types of FLEs.…”

Detection of Francisella-like endosymbiont in Hyalomma rufipes from Ethiopia

“…tularensis specific DNA was not detected, but a H. rufipes was positive for FLE (0.34%; 1/296). Although the sample size was small, this FLE prevalence is much lower than the prevalence rates detected in either North-America or in Europe (Scoles, 2004;Kugeler et al, 2005;de Carvalho et al, 2011;Kreizinger et al, 2013). F. tularensis occurs primarily in North-America and Eurasia and the Francisella-like agents might be more prevalent in those areas as well than in Africa.…”

“…FLEs are widespread in hard and soft ticks (Sun et al, 2000;Michelet et al, 2013). Their presence in ticks and ability to cross-react with F. tularensis in most of the conventional molecular detection techniques may have led to misidentifications or misinterpretations of diagnostic results (Kugeler et al, 2005;Escudero et al, 2008;de Carvalho et al, 2011).…”

Synanthropic Birds Associated with High Prevalence of Tick-Borne Rickettsiae and with the First Detection ofRickettsia aeschlimanniiin Hungary

“…Francisella-like agents were only detected so far in D. reticulatus and Hyalomma sp. ticks (Escudero et al 2008, Sréter-Lancz et al 2009, de Carvalho et al 2011, Ivanov et al 2011; therefore, this is the first molecular evidence of their occurrence in I. ricinus. Francisella-like bacteria were also reported from small mammals, and they may even have some degree of pathogenicity in these hosts (Escudero et al 2008).…”