title: Prevalence and infection intensity of Rickettsia massiliae in Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks from Mendoza, Argentina.
abstract: Rickettsia massiliae belongs to the spotted fever group and in the New World is commonly associated with the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Herein we investigate the presence of R. massiliae in Rh. sanguineus sensu lato ticks in a location near the Andean foothills (Mendoza, Argentina), to provide a prevalence estimate and to assess the infection intensity of this pathogen. Rickettsia massiliae infection was found in 5.1% of the Rh. sanguineus s.l ticks analyzed, all with high infection intensities. Molecular analysis determined that all R. massiliae-infected Rh. sanguineus s.l. ticks belonged to the temperate lineage.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades, Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral (ICIVET-Litoral), Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Esperanza, S3080, Argentina. Electronic address: lmonje@fcv.unl.edu.ar.
authors.forename: Lucas D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Monje
authors.affiliation: Residencia de Veterinaria en Salud Pública (RVSP), Instituto de Zoonosis Luis Pasteur, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, C1405DCD, Argentina.
authors.forename: María Cielo
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Linares
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades, Instituto de Ciencias Veterinarias del Litoral (ICIVET-Litoral), Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Esperanza, S3080, Argentina; Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Esperanza, S3080, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pablo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Beldomenico
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D058491:Bacterial Load; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D048508:Rhipicephalus sanguineus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary
keywords: Argentina; Infection intensity; Rhipicephalus sanguineus; Rickettsia; Temperate lineage; Vectorial competence