Detection of Borrelia theileri in Rhipicephalus geigyi from Mali

Abstract

Disease burden within cattle is a concern around the world. Bovine borreliosis, one such disease, is caused by the spirochete Borrelia theileri transmitted by the bite of an infected Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) species tick. A number of species within the genus are capable of transmitting the agent and are found on multiple continents. Cattle in the West African nation of Mali are infested with 4 species of Rhipicephalus ticks of the subgenus Boophilus: Rhipicephalus annulatus, Rhipicephalus microplus, Rhipicephalus decoloratus, and Rhipicephalus geigyi. To date, no reports of B. theileri within Mali have been documented. We tested 184 Rhipicephalus spp. ticks by PCR that were removed from cattle at a market near Bamako, Mali. One tick, R. geigyi, was positive for B. theileri, which confirmed the presence of this spirochete in Mali.

Epidemiological study of relapsing fever borreliae detected in Haemaphysalis ticks and wild animals in the western part of Japan

“…theileri in 12.5% pools of animal-associated Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus spp. in Ethiopia [38, 39]. Moreover, the prevalence of human pathogenic hTBRF borreliae, B .…”

Blood transcriptomes reveal novel parasitic zoonoses circulating in Madagascar's lemurs

“…Importantly, the tick-borne parasites identified in our survey are closely related to pathogenic strains known to cause disease in humans, domesticated animals and wildlife (e.g. babesiosis, borreliosis, neoehrlichiosis) [17][18][19]. Phylogenetic analyses of these parasites reveal genetic similarity to species found in domestic cats, cattle and rodents, data that suggest host-spillover events mediated by tick vectors on Madagascar (figure 2; electronic supplementary material, tables S1 and S2).…”

Tick (Acari: Ixodidae) infestations in cattle along Geba River basin in Guinea-Bissau

“…For Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) geigyi COI sequence [KU568512 and KU568513], a match of 99% identity was observed with specimens from Burkina Faso, KC503263 (Burger et al, 2014), and from unknown origin AY008680 (Murrell and KU568500] share 99% identity with geographically distant specimens from Italy AM410573 (Epis et al, 2008) and from Egypt EU921773 (direct submission) while the R. (Boophilus) geigyi sequences [KU568501, KU568502 and KU568503] show 99% identity with specimens from Burkina Faso KC503263 (Burger et al, 2014) and from Mali KF569939 (McCoy et al, 2014).…”

“…IV: KC243810. Here, the Portuguese R. sanguineus 12S sequence determined in this work [KU568506] and others retrieved from GenBank (R. annulatus: EU921773 (direct submission), U95866 (direct submission), AM410573 (Epis et al, 2008); R. decoloratus: KF569940 (Mattioli et al, 1997), EU921774 (direct submission), AF150044 (Beati and Keirans, 2001); R. geigyi: KF569939 (McCoy et al, 2014); R. sulcatus: FJ536564, FJ536565, direct submission) were again used. The selection of the subgenus Boophilus sequences to include in these studies was based on the criteria of overlapping the fragments chosen for the R. sanguineus group study .…”