PCR Detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi in Ixodes persulcatus Ticks in Mongolia

Abstract

A total of 1,345 Ixodes persulcatus ticks collected from northeastern China were investigated for the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophila and Borrelia burgdorferi by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Sixty-two (4.6%) ticks were positive for A. phagocytophila and 454 (33.8%) were positive for B. burgdorferi. Seven (0.5%) were coinfected with both agents. Sequence analysis of 919-basepair PCR amplicons revealed three types of A. phagocyto-phila. Type 1 was identical to the published sequences of A. phagocytophilas responsible for human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE). The other two variants differed from the HGE agent sequence at one and four positions, respectively. These findings imply that infection with A. phagocytophila poses a potential health threat to both humans and animals in northeastern China, and that ehrlichiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of febrile patients with a history of tick bite, particularly when clinical manifestations are atypical for Lyme disease.

Genetic diversity of Ixodes pavlovskyi and I. persulcatus (Acari: Ixodidae) from the sympatric zone in the south of Western Siberia and Kazakhstan

“…Among all Ixodes tick species inhabiting Siberia the I. persulcatus (Schulze, 1930) and I. pavlovskyi (Pom., 1946) are most epidemiologically significant. Both serve as hosts and vectors for several human pathogens, including tick-borne encephalitis and Kemerovo viruses; Borrelia burgdorferi s. l. and B. miyamotoi; ''Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae'' and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Chausov et al 2010;Korenberg et al 2010;Masuzawa et al 2014;Rar et al 2010;Shpynov et al 2006;Taylor et al 2013;Tkachev et al 2014). Both species occupy similar habitat types and have overlapping activity periods; the preimaginal stages of I. persulcatus, and I. pavlovskyi concurrently parasitize same host species (Filippova 1977) and have overlapping distribution ranges.…”

A cross-sectional study of small mammals for tick-borne pathogen infection in northern Mongolia

“…in I. pursulcatus ticks in Selenge aimag further providing evidence that rodents likely harbor Borrelia spp. in northern Mongolia [9,10]. While Dermacentor spp.…”

“…The most common strains of Borrelia spp. circulating in Mongolia are B. afzelii, B. bavariensis and B. garinii [9,10], all of which are reservoired in rodents and are commonly found to transmit to humans. B. garinii in particular has been identifed in hamster [13,27] and sibirian chipmunk species [26] in neighborhing China.…”

“…in Mongolia have also found similarly low prevalence in ticks suggesting that Anaplasma spp. may not be highly prevalent in small mammals in this area or it is highly seasonal [4,9,35]. In regards to reservoir competence, striped dwarf hamsters, Siberian chipmunks and ground squirrels had a high seroprevalence of A. phagocytophilum , similar studies in China found that gerbils and Siberian chipmunks were adequate hosts for A. phagocytophilum [13,16].…”

Evidence for Borrelia bavariensis Infections of Ixodes uriae within Seabird Colonies of the North Atlantic Ocean

“…Borrelia bavariensis is thought to be a rodent-transmitted ecotype (28,29) and play a key role in Lyme borreliosis in locations such as Mongolia (13). Currently, there are 170 B. bavariensis occurrences described in the MLST database, with 24 occurrences in Europe and 146 occurrences in Asia, representing two sequence types in Europe and 53 sequence types in Asia.…”