The Surveillance of Borrelia Species in Camelus dromedarius and Associated Ticks: The First Detection of Borrelia miyamotoi in Egypt

Abstract

Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are emerging and re-emerging infections that have a worldwide impact on human and animal health. Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a severe zoonotic disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) transmitted to humans by the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. Borrelia miyamotoi is a spirochete that causes relapsing fever (RF) and is genetically related to Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. However, there have been no reports of B. miyamotoi in Egypt, and the data on LB in camels is scarce. Thus, the present study was conducted to screen and genetically identify Borrelia spp. and B. miyamotoi in Egyptian camels and associated ticks using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: A total of 133 blood samples and 1596 adult hard ticks were collected from Camelus dromedaries at Cairo and Giza slaughterhouses in Egypt. Tick species were identified by examining their morphology and sequencing the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene. Borrelia spp. was detected using nested PCR on the IGS (16S-23S) gene, and positive samples were genotyped using 16S rRNA and glpQ spp. genes specific for Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi, respectively. The positive PCR products were sequenced and analyzed by phylogenetic tree. Results: Analysis of the cox1 gene sequence revealed that the adult ticks belonged to three genera; Hyalomma (H), Amblyomma (Am), and Rhipicephalus (R), as well as 12 species, including H. dromedarii, H. marginatum, H. excavatum, H. anatolicum, R. annulatus, R. pulchellus, Am. testudinarium, Am. hebraeum, Am. lipidium, Am. variegatum, Am. cohaerens and Am. gemma. Borrelia spp. was found in 8.3% (11/133) of the camel blood samples and 1.3% (21/1596) of the ticks, respectively. Sequencing of the IGS (16S-23S) gene found that B. afzelii, detected from H. dromedarii and H. marginatum, and B. crocidurae, which belongs to the RF group, was detected from one blood sample. B. burgdorferi and B. miyamotoi were discovered in the blood samples and tick species. Phylogenetic analysis of the glpQ gene showed that the B. miyamotoi in this study was of the Asian and European types. Conclusions: These results suggest that the camels can be infected by Lyme borrelia and other Borrelia bacteria species. This study also provides the first insight into the presence of Borrelia miyamotoi and B. afzelii DNA in camels and associated ticks in Egypt.

Molecular detection of some zoonotic tick-borne pathogens in ticks collected from camels (Camelus dromedarius) as hosts and wild rodents as potential reservoirs

“…Nevertheless, there have been no reported human B. miyamotoi infections in Egypt. Most recently, in Egypt, B. miyamotoi was rst identi ed in 6.8% of the camel blood samples using the glpQ gene(Ashour, et al, 2023). These results support our ndings of detection of 6% of rodents' blood was PCR positive to Borrelia miyamotoi.…”

“…They proposed that deer may possess a mechanism that prevents them from being infective to ticks. Few studies have detected B. burgdorferi in camel's blood(Ben Said et al, 2016 andAshour et al, 2023), and the potential role of camel in pathogen transmission and prediction of disease risk is still unknown. B. miyamotoi has been isolated from Ixodes persulcatus, and the rst case of B. miyamotoi infection in a human was discovered in Russia in 2011(Platonov et al, 2011).…”

Systematic investigation of the Borrelia miyamotoi spirochetes in ticks, wildlife and domestic animal hosts in Yunnan province, Southwest China

“…The main vectors of B. miyamotoi differ in different countries, such as I. scapularis and I. pacificus in the United States, I. ricinus in Europe, I. persulcatus , I. ovatus, H. concinna and H. longicornis in China, I. persulcatus and I. pavlovski in Japan, I. ricinus and I. persulcatus in Russia [ 6 ]. An increasing number of B. miyamotoi strains in ixodid ticks have been identified in many countries including the Czech Republic, Egypt, and Austria [ [21] , [22] , [23] ]. Here, our study showed that R. microplus , I. ovatus , H. nepalensis and H. kolonini may be novel vectors of relapsing fever spirochetes in Yunnan province.…”

“…Over the past three years, an increasing number of B. miyamotoi in ixodid ticks has been identified in many countries including the Czech Republic, Egypt, and Austria [ [21] , [22] , [23] ]. There has also been an increase in human infections in France, Austria, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China [ [24] , [25] , [26] ].…”

Screening Marine Microbial Metabolites as Promising Inhibitors of Borrelia garinii: A Structural Docking Approach towards Developing Novel Lyme Disease Treatment

“…Borrelia garinii belongs to the genus Borrelia and is responsible for causing Lyme disease [ 1 , 2 ]. It is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, with over 300,000 new cases reported each year in the United States alone [ 3 ].…”