title: Detection of Rickettsia monacensis from Ixodes nipponensis collected from rodents in Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces, Republic of Korea.
abstract: A total of 1,305 ticks were collected from wild rodents captured monthly, except July and August, during 2008 at three US-ROK operated military training sites and three US military installations in Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces, the Republic of Korea (ROK). Ixodes nipponensis was the most frequently collected tick (n = 1,299, 99.5 %), followed by Ixodes pomerantzevi (n = 6, 0.5 %). The ticks were pooled (1-15/sample) and tested by nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) for spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae with primer sets targeting the outer membrane protein B (ompB), citrate synthase (gltA), and 17-kDa antigen gene loci. A total of 115/197 (58.4 %) pools were positive by nPCR for the outer membrane protein ompB. Nucleotide sequence analysis of 105/115 (91.3 %) ompB targeted nPCR positive products showed a high degree of similarity to Rickettsia monacensis (99.3-100 %, n = 87) and R. japonica (99.5-100 %, n = 18). From the 87 positive samples demonstrating a high degree of similarity to R. monacensis, 15 were selected and analyzed by nPCR for gltA and the 17-kDa genes. A total of 12/15 pooled samples were positive for by nPCR for gltA, with amplicons demonstrating a high degree of similarity to R. monacensis (99.3-99.7 %). A total of 13/15 pooled samples were positive by nPCR for the 17-kDa gene, with amplicons demonstrating a high degree of similarity to R. monacensis (99.4-100 %). These findings demonstrate that R. monacensis is distributed throughout Gyeonggi and Gangwon Provinces in the ROK. Furthermore, data suggest a relative high prevalence of R. monacensis in the tick, I. nipponensis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Glocal Disease Control, Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sun-Hye
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Hyun-Ji
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Yeon-Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Min-Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Heung-Chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Terry A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Sung-Tae
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Allen L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Kyung-Hee
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Won-Jong
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003710:Demography; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012377:Rodentia / Q000469:parasitology*