Ticks and tick-associated spotted fever group Rickettsia from birds in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Ticks and tick-associated spotted fever group Rickettsia from birds in the Southwestern Brazilian Amazon ¤ Garrapatas y su infección por Rickettsia del grupo de la fiebre manchada en aves del sudoeste de la Amazonía Brasileña Carrapatos e sua infeção por Rickettsia do grupo da febre maculosa em aves do sudoeste da Amazonia BrasileiraAbstract Background: South American birds are known to play a significant role in life cycles of various hard ticks, particularly within Amblyomma genus. However, the tick fauna from the Amazon region has been poorly studied, being limited to very few studies. Objective: To report tick infestations on wild birds captured in a region of the Amazon forest, Acre state, Brazil, and to evaluate rickettsial infection in these ticks. Methods: Wild birds were captured by mist-nets and examined for the presence of ticks, which were all collected and identified to species level by taxonomic keys and/or molecular methods. In addition, part of these ticks was individually tested by PCR targeting portions of three rickettsial genes (gltA, ompA, ompB). Results: Among 1,322 captured birds, ¤ To cite this article: Lima MA, Fernandes MT, Muñoz-Leal S, Guilherme E, Ogrzewalska M, Labruna MB. Ticks and tick-associated spotted fever group Rickettsia from birds in the Southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Rev Colomb Cienc Pecu 2017; 31(1):26-35. Rev Colomb Cienc Pecu 2018; 31(1):26-35 Lima MA et al. Ticks and Rickettsia in Amazon birds 79 individuals (6.0%) were infested by one of the following ticks species: Amblyomma nodosum Neumann, 1899 (72 nymphs), Amblyomma longirostre (Koch, 1844; seven larvae, 13 nymphs), Amblyomma humerale Koch 1844 (four nymphs), Amblyomma geayi Neumann, 1899 (two larvae, two nymphs), and 421 larvae of Amblyomma spp Rickettsia sp strain NOD was detected in 3/26 A. nodosum, and Rickettsia amblyommatis in 5/8 A. longirostre and 1/2 A. geayi ticks tested. Conclusion: This is the first study about ticks parasitizing wild birds in Acre state, adding new host-parasite relationships, new tick species records (A. humerale and A. nodosum) and two rickettsial agents (R amblyommatis and Rickettsia sp strain NOD) for the first time in Acre.

Novel Rickettsia genotypes in ticks in French Guiana, South America

“…We found here that Rickettsia infections are common in French Guiana ticks, a pattern also observed among ticks of other South American regions 7,[10][11][12][13]20 . The incidence of infection varied between tick species of French Guiana: 12 of the 22 tick species examined, including Amblyomma, Haemaphysalis and Ixodes species, harbored Rickettsia, and when present, prevalence ranged from 10 to 100%, with significant variations between sampling localities of some species.…”

“…Multilocus typing showed that 11 of these Rickettsia genotypes can be assigned to two validated Rickettsia species, namely R. amblyommatis (two genotypes) and R. bellii (nine genotypes). These two Rickettsia species are widely present among Central and South American ticks, each infecting more than 10 species 7,[11][12][13][21][22][23][24][25][26] . Their presence in French Guiana was therefore expected, but the observation of novel genotypes indicates the presence of important geographic variability: R. amblyommatis and R. bellii have probably radiated within their respective regions, including French Guiana, into different genotypes.…”

“…Since none of the 19 Rickettsia genotypes was previously described before this study, no evidence of their pathogenicity currently exists, even for those belonging to validated Rickettsia species. Indeed, although R. amblyommatis and R. bellii are commonly found in the ticks of French Guiana, and more broadly in American ticks 7,[11][12][13][21][22][23][24][25][26] , they have never been found in vertebrate hosts, suggesting that they are nonpathogenicspecies. Interestingly, while the Cayenne tick A. cajennense is one of the most common ticks found in French Guiana, blood-feeding on many different hosts, including humans 8,30,31 , R. amblyommatis (infecting here 25% of the A. cajennense specimens examined) were never detected in humans or animals: while French Guiana is an outermost region of the European Union, with technical and financial resources that close to European countries, no case was notified to date.…”

Diversity of ticks and detection of Rickettsia amblyommatis infecting ticks on wild birds in anthropogenic landscapes in Bahia state, northeast Brazil

“…The present survey broadens the information on ticks infesting birds and related pathogens in two areas from the Atlantic rainforestin Bahia state, northeast Brazil. The mean prevalence and intensity of wild birds infested by ticks was 18.6% and 1.9, respectively, similar to studies from ticks infesting birds in South America, including those conducted in Brazil (Ogrzewalska et al 2011;Luz and Faccini 2013;Flores et al 2014;Ramos et al 2015;Lugarini et al 2015;Luz et al 2017a;Zeringóta et al 2017;Lima et al 2018). In the Atlantic rainforest biome, the prevalence of ticks on birds is from 5 to 18%, with averages between 10 and 13% (Ogrzewalska et al 2009;Luz et al 2012Luz et al , 2017aZeringóta et al 2017).…”

First report of Amblyomma latepunctatum and the second record of Ixodes luciae in the state of Acre, Brazil

“…Another characteristic that was observed in the specimen of this study was the presence of chitinous blades incised in all festoons, characteristic that can be confused with the species A. incisum (Labruna et al, 2005a). In this regard, in a review on the tick species of the state of Acre, Lima et al (2018) suggested that there was a need to confirm the species A. incisum, which may have been confused with the species A. latepunctatum and A. scalpturatum. As so, A. incisum had only been reported once, by Aragão (1936), through examining the material in the Ixodid Collection of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.…”