Tick-associated diseases identified from hunting dogs during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Mayan community in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

Background: Hunting activity in the Mayan communities has increased due to COVID-19 and domestic dogs have gained more importance. Due to its proximity to humans, domestic dogs are a bridge between tick-borne diseases and humans and their peri-domestic environment. In Mexico, and especially in rural regions, there were not adequate records of tick-borne diseases during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Aim: Identify tick-borne diseases (TBD) of ticks collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural community. Methods: Tick capture was carried out in March 2021, in Teabo, Yucatan. Ticks were removed using from domestic dogs and placed in ethanol. Collected ticks were morphological identified and underwent DNA extraction and a partial segment of the mitochondrial 16S-rDNA gene was amplified to corroborate the tick species. The DNA was screened for the presence of Anaplasma spp., Borrelia spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Rickettsia spp.. Purified amplification products were submitted for sequencing and the results were compared to those deposited in GenBank using BLAST. Results: We collected 33 ectoparasites, Ixodes affinis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus microplus and Amblyomma mixtum on 11 hunting dogs. The most frequently ectoparasite was Rh. sanguineus (66%). We detected the presence of DNA of Rickettsia endosymbionte in Ixodes affinis and Anaplasma platys in Rhipicephalus sanguineus. R. endosymbionte presented a similarity of 100% with the partial sequence of Rickettsia endosymbiont of Ixodes affinis isolate IACACTM001 16S ribosomal RNA gene and the sequence of Anaplasma platys had a similarity of 100% with the partial sequence of the isolate 23-33TX 16S ribosomal RNA gene of Anaplasma platys from dogs from Texas, USA and with the partial sequence of the isolate L134 16S ribosomal RNA gene of Ehrlichia canis from dogs from Piura, Peru. Conclusion: We confirmed for the first time the presence of Anaplasma platys in Rh. sanguineus and R. endosymbiont in I. affinis ticks from dogs in the state of Yucatan.