Diversity of tick species (Acari: Ixodidae) in military training areas in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Tick-borne pathogens belong to one of the two main groups of occupational biohazards, and occupational exposure to such agents puts soldiers at risk of zoonotic infections, such as those caused by rickettsiae. There are few studies on acarological fauna and occupational risk in military areas in Brazil. Thus, the present study aimed to analyze the diversity of ticks present in the military training areas of municipalities in the Southeast Region of Brazil. The ticks were collected from the selected areas using the dragging and flagging techniques as well as by visual detection on the operators’ clothing, and environmental information was also recorded. A total of ten species were collected from the 66 surveyed areas, belonging to five genera and nine species: Amblyomma sculptum, Amblyomma dubitatum, Amblyomma brasiliense, Amblyomma longirostre, Amblyomma aureolatum, Dermacentor nitens, Rhipicephalus spp., Ixodes spp. and Haemaphysalis spp. The frequent presence of tick species in military training areas along with traces and sightings of wild animals, most commonly capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), in most of the studied areas, indicates high levels of exposure of the military to tick vectors of spotted fever group rickettsiae and the possible occurrence of infections among the troops.

Molecular Detection of Rickettsia spp. in Free Living Ticks in Military Instruction Areas in Southeast Brazil

“…As verified by Prado and coauthors [22], the surveyed areas gather vulnerability factors for the occurrence of BSF cases, being classified as "predisposed areas" to the occurrence of human cases [55,56]. Recent lethal cases of BSF caused by R. rickettsii occurred in military police officers after training in a forested area in Campo Grande, RJ, and in a soldier after field activity in a military training area in Campinas, SP, reinforcing this predisposition and occupational risk of these professionals for the disease [57][58][59].…”

“…The cities of Juiz de Fora, state of Minas Gerais (MG) and, Paracambi and Resende in the state of Rio de Janeiro are located in an area of the Atlantic Forest biome, while Três Corações-MG and Campinas, state of São Paulo are located in Cerrado biome. The geographic coordinates, complete characterization of the collected areas and, morphological identification of ticks were described by Prado and coauthors [22]. A survey was conducted in 2019 between August and November, the months with the highest incidence of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) [35].…”

Fatal Brazilian spotted fever in a healthy military man during field training in Rio de Janeiro city, southeastern Brazil

“…Prado et al . 16 released a study which analyzed the diversity of ticks present in military training areas in municipalities of the Southeastern region of Brazil, including Rio de Janeiro city. A total of 9,374 ticks were collected, with a diversity of five genera, distributed in ten species.…”