title: Characterization of spotted fever group rickettsiae detected in dogs and ticks in Okinawa, Japan.
abstract: Spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsial DNAs were detected in 2.4% of 340 canine blood samples and a pool of 84 tick pool samples (229 ticks) collected in Okinawa, Japan by PCR using a citrate synthase and an SFG rickettsial 190-kDa surface antigen gene primer pair. The sequences of both genes from canine blood and tick samples showed high levels of similarity with those of Rickettsiajaponica and several SFG rickettsiae (R. aeschlimannii, R. massiliae, R. rhipicephali and Bar-29 strain). Phylogenesis of canine blood and tick samples was closely related to that of reference SFG rickettsiae. Serological evidence of SFG rickettsial infection in dogs and humans in Okinawa, where no clinical human cases have been reported, has been obtained. In this study, genetical characterization of SFG rickettsia in Okinawa was investigated phylogenetically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno-Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Yurie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Motoi
authors.forename: Gerry A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Camer
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inokuma
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Izawa
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kiyuuna
authors.forename: Norichika
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumazawa
authors.forename: Yasukazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Chiharu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morita
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial