Evidence of vertical transmission of lumpy skin disease virus in Rhipicephalus decoloratus ticks

Transovarial passage and transmission of LSDV by Amblyomma hebraeum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Rhipicephalus decoloratus

“…Fever is one of the characteristic signs for LSD (Coetzer 2004, Weiss 1968) and a transient rise in body temperature of animals is consistent with findings in the other studies involving R. appendiculatus (Tuppurainen et al 2013a) and R. decoloratus (Tuppurainen et al 2013b), where recipient animals showed a transient raise in temperature between days 4 to 8 of attachment. A similar transient temperature rise was also recorded by Carn and Kitching (1995), when they monitored clinical response to artificial infection with LSDV.…”

“…This study demonstrates transovarial passage of LSDV by A. hebraeum, R. appendiculatus and R. decoloratus ticks. The findings of this study and other published LSDV transmission studies (Tuppurainen et al 2013a, Tuppurainen et al 2013b) indicate a high possibility for ticks to be reservoir hosts for LSDV in nature. The overwintering period in the life cycle of some tick species such as R. decoloratus ticks (after repletion of adults) (Bryson et al 2002, Walker 2003, may play a significant role in the overwintering of LSDV.…”

“…The recipient animals (RB2 and RB3) of R. decoloratus larvae showed more evidence of LSDV infection (i.e. skin lesions, oral lesions, salivation), the C t values for realtime PCR of blood were lower and the virus was demonstrated from the skin lesions (Tuppurainen et al 2013b). Low efficiency of transovarial transmission of viruses by 3-host ticks was reported for Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) by Hyalomma truncatum (Wilson et al 1991) and tick borne-encephalitis by Ixodes ricinus (Danielova and Holubova 1991).…”

“…Since R. decoloratus is a one host tick (Walker 2003), transmission of pathogens between hosts is expected to be vertical through transovarial passage. Transstadial passage from larvae to nymphs and adults may occur on the same host and this may explain the more prominent development of LSD reported in recipient animals challenged with R. decoloratus (Tuppurainen et al 2013b) compared to the infection developed by animals challenged with larvae of 3-host ticks (A. hebraeum and R. appendiculatus). Rhipicephalus decoloratus has also been shown to transmit Babesia bigemina through vertical transmission (Buscher 1988, Okon et al 2011.…”

“…At the time of tick feeding, the presence of LSDV in donor animals was indicated by clinical signs and confirmed by serum neutralisation test (SNT) and real-time PCR (Lubinga et al 2013, Tuppurainen et al 2013a, Tuppurainen et al 2013b). …”