Prevalence and Genotypes of Anaplasma Species and Habitat Suitability for Ticks in a Mediterranean Ecosystem

Abstract

Anaplasma species are tick-transmitted pathogens that impact veterinary and human health. Sicily is one of the locations where these pathogens are endemic. Sicily represents a typical Mediterranean ecosystem to study Anaplasma infection and tick habitat suitability. The aims of this study were (i) to characterize by 16S rRNA and species-specific msp4 gene PCR the prevalence and genotypes of A. marginale, A. phagocytophilum, and A. ovis in the most abundant host species in Sicilian provinces and (ii) to correlate differences between hosts and between western and eastern Sicily with the habitat suitability for ticks in these regions. Differences were found in the prevalence of Anaplasma spp. between different hosts and between western and eastern provinces. The differences in Anaplasma prevalence between different hosts may be explained by pathogen host tropism. The differences between western and eastern provinces correlated with the tick habitat suitability in these regions. The analysis of Anaplasma genotypes suggested a higher host and regional specificity for A. phagocytophilum than for A. marginale and A. ovis strains, a finding probably associated with the broader host range of A. phagocytophilum. The presence of identical A. marginale genotypes in the two regions may reflect cattle movement. The results for A. ovis suggested the possibility of some genotypes being host specific. These results provide information potentially useful for the management of tick-borne diseases caused by Anaplasma spp. in Sicily and other Mediterranean regions and may contribute to the development of models to predict the risks for these tick-borne pathogens.

Characterization of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and A. ovis infection in a naturally infected sheep flock with poor health condition

“…evaluated in this study are among the most prevalent tick-borne pathogens in sheep in Sicily (Torina et al 2007;2008a;2009). Sheep had 98% (196/200) seroprevalence to Anaplasma spp.…”

“…are endemic in Sicily where they constitute a veterinary and human health problem (de la Fuente et al 2005b;Torina et al 2007Torina et al , 2008a. These pathogens infect sheep, an important farm species in Sicily (Caracappa 1999;Torina et al 2008a, b).…”

Detection of novel strains genetically related to Anaplasma platys in Tunisian one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius)

“…This high discrepancy between prevalence rates may result from differences in tick control programs, farm management, husbandry practices, wildlife reservoir hosts, and/or abiotic factors. In fact, several studies have reported the variability of Anaplasma species prevalence in ruminants according to geographic location, associated with suitable tick habitats and animal management [10,28,43]. Moreover, the infection rate of Anaplasma spp.…”

Molecular and serological prevalence of Anaplasma marginale in cattle of North Central Morocco

“…Anaplasma is globally the most prevalent tick-borne pathogen of cattle and has a worldwide distribution with regions of endemicity on six continents (Futse et al, 2003) and high incidence in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (De La Fuente et al, 2005;Torina et al, 2008;Gokce et al, 2008;Ooshiro et al, 2009;Ruybal et al, 2009). A. centrale is widely distributed but has never been reported in North Africa, it has been reported only in South Africa (OIE, 2008).…”