Co-existence of Multiple Anaplasma Species and Variants in Ticks Feeding on Hedgehogs or Cattle Poses Potential Threats of Anaplasmosis to Humans and Livestock in Eastern China

Abstract

BackgroundAnaplasma spp., causative agents of anaplasmosis, pose significant a threat to public health and economic losses in livestock farming. Co-infections/co-existence of various Anaplasma spp. may facilitate pathogen interactions and the emergence of novel variants, represent potential dangers to public health and economic losses from livestock farming, and raise challenges of detection and diagnosis. The information regarding co-infection/co-existence of Anaplasma in their vector ticks and wild animals is limited and needs urgent investigation.MethodsWild hedgehogs and ticks from hedgehogs and cattle were collected from Jiangsu province, Eastern China, and DNA was extracted from hedgehog organs and tick homogenates. Various genera of species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or nested PCR amplifications targeting 16S ribosomal RNA (rrs), msp4, or groEL gene coupled with sequencing were conducted to identify Anaplasma spp.ResultsAnaplasma phagocytophilum (1, 0.6%), A. marginale (2, 1.2%), A. platys variants xyn10pt-1 (13, 7.7%), xyn21pt-2 (3, 1.8%), and xyn3pt-3 (3, 1.8%), A. bovis variant cwp72bo-1 (12, 7.1%), and a novel Candidatus Cryptoplasma sp. (1, 0.6%) were identified in 168 Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks from cattle. A. platys variant xyn10pt-1 (20, 11.4%) and A. bovis variants cwp72bo-1 (12, 6.9%) and cwp55-36bo-2 (1, 0.6%) were detected in 173 H. flava ticks from hedgehogs. However, only A. bovis variant cwp72bo-1 (15, 46.7%) was identified in 32 Erinaceus amurensis hedgehogs. Various co-existence combinations were found only in ticks.ConclusionThe co-existence of various Anaplasma spp. and variants in H. flava and H. longicornis was detected for the first time in the world. The high infection rate of A. bovis in hedgehogs and its moderate infection rate in their parasitic ticks suggest that Er. amurensis hedgehog could be an important reservoir of A. bovis, rather than A. platys. Horizontal transmission of Anaplasma spp. may exist among different tick species via their shared hosts in the investigated area. This study provided epidemiological data that could be crucial for strategy development for early warning, prevention, and control of potential Anaplasma infections.

Serological Analysis of IgG and IgM Antibodies against Anaplasma spp. in Various Animal Species of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…are obligate intracellular bacteria from the order Rickettsiales and the family Anaplasmataceae, and are serious TBPs that cause anaplasmosis in humans and animals by infecting red and white blood cells [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Anaplasmosis is characterized by hemolytic anemia in various animal species and is endemic in various tropical and subtropical regions worldwide [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

High prevalence of Rickettsia spp. in ticks from wild hedgehogs rather than domestic bovine in Jiangsu province, Eastern China

“…The ticks were first identified by their morphological features ( Figure 2 ) and then confirmed or corrected by molecular method as our previously described ( Qi et al., 2022 ). Overall, 167 (96.5%) of the 173 hedgehog-attached ticks were H. flava and the other 6 (3.5%) were H. longicornis , whereas 152 (90.5%), 15 (8.9%), and 1 (0.6%) of the 168 bovine-attached ticks were H. longicornis , Rhipicephalus ( Rh. )…”

“…Nevertheless, investigations on epidemiological data of animal hosts, their attached tick species, and the tick harboring and transmitting Rickettsia spp. may benefit the prevention and control strategy development for spotted fever ( Chisu et al., 2020 ; Song et al., 2021 ; Qi et al., 2022 ).…”

“…Considering the high pathogenic Rickettsia -positive rate in ticks from wild hedgehogs, we supposed people might be exposed to SFGR in the investigated area. On the one hand, living area of hedgehogs typically overlaps with that of humans in (sub) urbans, leading to possible contacts and exposure of people to the pathogens that their parasitic ticks harbor ( Ruszkowski et al., 2021 ; Qi et al., 2022 ); on the other hand, ticks are both vectors and reservoirs for most SFGR, which may infect wild or domestic animals and humans through tick biting ( Socolovschi et al., 2009 ). Sera samples were collected from the Xuyi County Hospital of Chinese Medicine, which is believed to receive more people living in the rural area around the sampling site than the other two hospitals in urban areas.…”

“…The ticks used in the present study have been described in our previous study ( Qi et al., 2022 ). Briefly, 341 ticks, including 173 adults from 32 wild hedgehogs ( Erinaceus amurensis ) and 168 adults from 30 domestic bovine (including 18 Bubalus bubalis buffalo, eight Bos taurus cattle, and four Chinese Holstein cows), were collected from May 2019 to October 2020 in rural area (E 118°29’6”, N 32°43’55”) in Xuyi county of Huaian city, Jiangsu Province, China ( Figures 1A–C ) ( Qi et al., 2022 ). Four to 10 ticks were randomly sampled from each animal and preliminarily identified by their morphological features before they were washed and homogenized as described previously ( Jiao et al., 2021a ).…”