Affiliation:
1. Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis,1 and
2. Santa Clara County Department of Health Services, Wildlife, Unit, Vector Control Section, San Jose,2 California
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Ticks are the vectors of many zoonotic diseases in the United States, including Lyme disease, human monocytic and granulocytic ehrlichioses, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Most known
Bartonella
species are arthropod borne. Therefore, it is important to determine if some
Bartonella
species, which are emerging pathogens, could be carried or transmitted by ticks. In this study, adult
Ixodes pacificus
ticks were collected by flagging vegetation in three sites in Santa Clara County, Calif. PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and partial sequencing of 273 bp of the
gltA
gene were applied for
Bartonella
identification. Twenty-nine (19.2%) of 151 individually tested ticks were PCR positive for
Bartonella
. Male ticks were more likely to be infected with
Bartonella
than female ticks (26 versus 12%,
P
= 0.05). None of the nine ticks collected at Baird Ranch was PCR positive for
Bartonella
. However, 7 (50%) of 14 ticks from Red Fern Ranch and 22 (17%) of 128 ticks from the Windy Hill Open Space Reserve were infected with
Bartonella
. In these infected ticks, molecular analysis showed a variety of
Bartonella
strains, which were closely related to a cattle
Bartonella
strain and to several known human-pathogenic
Bartonella
species and subspecies:
Bartonella henselae, B. quintana, B. washoensis,
and
B. vinsonii
subsp.
berkhoffii
. These findings indicate that
I. pacificus
ticks may play an important role in
Bartonella
transmission among animals and humans.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Cited by
167 articles.
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