title: Spotted fever group rickettsiae detected in immature stages of ticks parasitizing on Iberian endemic lizard Lacerta schreiberi Bedriaga, 1878.
abstract: Spotted fever rickettsioses are tick-borne diseases of growing public health concern. The prevalence of rickettsia-infected ticks and their ability to parasitize humans significantly influence the risk of human infection. Altogether 466 Ixodes ricinus ticks (428 nymphs and 38 larvae) collected from 73 Lacerta schreiberi lizards were examined by PCR targeting the citrate synthetase gene gltA for the presence of Rickettsia spp. Rickettsial DNA was detected in 47% of nymphs and 31.6% of larvae. They were subsequently subjected to a second PCR reaction using primers derived from the outer membrane protein rOmpA encoding gene (ompA) to detect spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFG). This analysis shows that 41.4% of nymphs and 7.9% of larvae collected from the lizards contain DNA of SFG rickettsiae. Sequencing of 43 randomly selected samples revealed two different haplotypes, both closely related to R. monacensis (39 and 4 samples, respectively). The remaining ompA negative Rickettsia spp. samples were determined to be R. helvetica based on sequencing of ompB and gltA fragments. Our results indicate that the role of Iberian endemic lizard L. schreiberi and its ectoparasites in the ecology and epidemiology of zoonotic SFG rickettsioses may be appreciable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic. Electronic address: michicerm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubelová
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Papoušek
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tomáš
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bělohlávek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vertebrate Biology, ASCR, Research Facility Studenec, Studenec 122, 67502 Konesin, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Joëlle Goüy
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: de Bellocq
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vertebrate Biology, ASCR, Research Facility Studenec, Studenec 122, 67502 Konesin, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Stuart J E
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Baird
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic; CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno , Palackého tř. 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Široký
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D008116:Lizards / Q000469:parasitology*; D009758:Nymph / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C078167:OMPA outer membrane proteins
keywords: Ixodes ricinus; Lacerta schreiberi; Rickettsia helvetica; Rickettsia monacensis; Spotted fever group rickettsiae