Eastern rock sengis as reservoir hosts of Anaplasma bovis in South Africa.
Recent work has identified the presence of Anaplasma bovis, a tick-borne pathogen of cattle, in a previously undescribed species of tick collected from eastern rock sengis, Elephantulus myurus, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. These small insectivores are endemic to Africa and are important hosts of immature ticks, however, their role as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens has not been investigated. In order to elucidate the role of sengis in the epidemiology of A. bovis, we screened the blood of 105 sengis from Limpopo Province, South Africa, for the presence of members of the genera Anaplasma and Ehrlichia by PCR. A total of 30/105 (28.6%) of individuals were infected with A. bovis, and nucleotide sequencing revealed the presence of a novel genetic variant of this pathogen. This represents the first evidence that sengis may be natural reservoir hosts of A. bovis.
Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Electronic address: a.harrison@abdn.ac.uk.
Alan
A
Harrison
Armanda D S
AD
Bastos
Katarina
K
Medger
Nigel C
NC
Bennett
D000709:Anaplasma / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000712:Anaplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004536:Ehrlichia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016873:Ehrlichiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D012788:Shrews / Q000382:microbiology*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S
Anaplasma bovis; Elephantulus myurus; Rhipicephalus; Sengi; Tick-borne pathogens; Ticks