Affiliation:
1. Institute of Immunology, Centre de Recherche Public de la Santé/National Public Health Laboratory, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2. Department of Chemical Pathology and Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Ticks are important disease vectors that can cause considerable economic losses by affecting animal health and productivity, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and diversity of bacterial and protozoan tick-borne pathogens in ticks collected from the vegetation and cattle in Nigeria by PCR. The infection rates of questing ticks were 3.1% for
Rickettsia
species, 0.1% for
Coxiella burnetii
and 0.4% for
Borrelia
species. Other pathogens, such as
Babesia
,
Theileria
,
Anaplasma
, and
Ehrlichia
species, were not detected in ticks from the vegetation. Feeding ticks collected from cattle displayed infection rates of 12.5% for
Rickettsia
species, 14% for
Coxiella burnetii
, 5.9% for
Anaplasma
species, 5.1% for
Ehrlichia
species, and 2.9% for
Theileria mutans. Babesia
and
Borrelia
species were not detected in ticks collected from cattle. Mixed infections were found only in feeding ticks and mainly
Rickettsia
species and
Coxiella burnetii
were involved. The diversity of tick-borne pathogens in Nigeria was higher in feeding than in questing ticks, suggesting that cattle serve as reservoirs for at least some of the pathogens studied, in particular
C. burnetii
. The total estimated herd infection rates of 20.6% for a
Rickettsia africae
-like species, 27% for
Coxiella burnetii
, and 8.5% for
Anaplasma marginale/centrale
suggest that these pathogens may have considerable implications for human and animal health.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
Cited by
94 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献