title: Tick-borne rickettsial pathogens in questing ticks, removed from humans and animals in Mexico.
abstract: Tick-borne rickettsial diseases (TBRD) are commonly encountered in medical and veterinary clinical settings. The control of these diseases is difficult, requiring disruption of a complex transmission chain involving a vertebrate host and ticks. The geographical distribution of the diseases is related to distribution of the vector, which is an indicator of risk for the population. A total of 1107 were collected by tick drag from forests, ecotourism parks and hosts at 101 sites in 22 of the 32 states of Mexico. Collected ticks were placed in 1.5 mL cryovials containing 70% ethanol and were identified to species. Ticks were pooled according to location/host of collection, date of collection, sex, and stage of development. A total of 51 ticks were assayed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to confirm species identification using morphological methods. A total of 477 pools of ticks were assayed using PCR techniques for selected tick-borne pathogens. Anaplasma phagocytophilum was the most commonly detected pathogen (45 pools), followed by, Ehrlichia (E.) canis (42), Rickettsia (R.) rickettsii (11), E. chaffeensis (8), and R. amblyommii (1). Rhipicephalus sanguineus was the tick most frequently positive for selected pathogens. Overall, our results indicate that potential tick vectors positive for rickettsial pathogens are distributed throughout the area surveyed in Mexico.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Research in Infectious Diseases, Children Hospital, National Medical Center, Institute of Mexico Social Security, Mexico City 06720, Mexico.
authors.forename: Carolina G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Sosa-Gutierrez
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Uruapan 60150, Mexico.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vargas-Sandoval
authors.affiliation: Unit of Research in Infectious Diseases, Children Hospital, National Medical Center, Institute of Mexico Social Security, Mexico City 06720, Mexico.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: Unit of Research in Infectious Diseases, Children Hospital, National Medical Center, Institute of Mexico Social Security, Mexico City 06720, Mexico.
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gordillo-Pérez
mesh_terms: D000709:Anaplasma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000712:Anaplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004536:Ehrlichia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D016873:Ehrlichiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D026863:Ixodidae / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Ehrlichia canis; Ehrlichia chaffeensis; Rickettsia rickettsia; ticks