Haemoprotozoan surveillance in peri-urban native and introduced wildlife from Australia

Egan, Siobhon; Taylor, Casey L.; Austen, Jill M.; Banks, Peter B.; Northover, Amy S.; Ahlstrom, Liisa A.; Ryan, Una; Irwin, Peter; Oskam, Charlotte L.

doi:10.1016/j.crpvbd.2021.100052

Cited by 10 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 113 publications

(168 reference statements)

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“…Nevertheless, even with modest sampling at few localities, we identified a remarkably abundant and diverse array of vertebrate-infecting tick-borne microorganisms, several of which may have zoonotic potential. This outcome is in agreement with recent studies investigating Australian ticks, and collectively, these works convincingly highlight both the richness of Australia's tick-borne microflora and how underexplored this area is, particularly in relation to zoonotic agents (Chandra et al, 2021;Egan, Loh, et al, 2020;Egan, Taylor, Austen, et al, 2021;Gofton et al, 2015;Greay et al, 2018;Harvey et al, 2019). We expect therefore that more extensive sampling of diverse ticks and wildlife across Australia would uncover additional diversity and further novel tick-borne microorganisms with zoonotic potential.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…BR042 which was recently described from R. rattus from Sydney (Egan, Taylor, Austen, et al, 2020) (Figure S9). Additionally, one (33.3%) T. vulpecula sample from northern Sydney was dominated by trypanosome contigs (relative abundance: 41.27%), and 18S sequences from this sample were up to 98.9% similar to a group of poorly classified T. cyclops-like trypanosomes which have previously been identified in Australian leeches and marsupials, including T. vulpecula (Egan, Ruiz-Aravena, Austen, et al, 2020;Egan, Taylor, Austen, Banks, et al, 2021;Hall et al, 2021;Hamilton et al, 2005) (Figure S9).…”

Section: 6mentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Ticks are susceptible to entomopathogenic fungal pathogens such as Metarhizium spp. (Goettel et al, 2005) (Egan, Taylor, Austen, et al, 2020;Egan, Taylor, Austen, et al, 2021;Greay et al, 2018). In addition, this work identified three novel haemoprotozoan species from questing H. bancrofti ticks: Hepatozoon sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…While the association to tick-bites is predominantly anecdotal (Brown, 2018;Storey-Lewis, 2019), this illness has been termed Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks (DSCATT) to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of the illness and to create clarity from other terminology such as 'Lyme-like disease' which had previously been used. Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., the aetiological agent of Lyme disease, has not been reliably identified in Australian ticks, wildlife, domestic animals or people (except for nonautochthonous infections diagnosed in Australia) (Chalada et al, 2016;Collignon et al, 2016;Egan, Loh, et al, 2020;Egan, Taylor, Austen, et al, 2021;Gofton et al, 2015;Harvey et al, 2019;Irwin et al, 2017). Indeed, compared to other continents, Australia has relatively few tick-borne human pathogens, including several endemic Rickettsia spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Metatranscriptomic profiling reveals diverse tick‐borne bacteria, protozoans and viruses in ticks and wildlife from Australia

Gofton

Blasdell

Taylor

et al. 2022

Transbounding Emerging Dis

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Tick-borne zoonoses are emerging globally due to changes in climate and land use.While the zoonotic threats associated with ticks are well studied elsewhere, in Australia, the diversity of potentially zoonotic agents carried by ticks and their significance to human and animal health is not sufficiently understood. To this end, we used untargeted metatranscriptomics to audit the prokaryotic, eukaryotic and viral biomes of questing ticks and wildlife blood samples from two urban and rural sites in New South Wales, Australia. Ixodes holocyclus and Haemaphysalis bancrofti were the main tick species collected, and blood samples from Rattus rattus, Rattus fuscipes, Perameles nasuta and Trichosurus vulpecula were also collected and screened for tick-borne microorganisms using metatranscriptomics followed by conventional targeted PCR to identify important microbial taxa to the species level. Our analyses identified 32 unique tick-borne taxa, including 10 novel putative species. Overall, a wide range of tick-borne microorganisms were found in questing ticks including haemoprotozoa such as Babesia, Theileria, Hepatozoon and Trypanosoma spp., bacteria such as Borrelia, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Neoehrlichia and Anaplasma spp., and numerous viral taxa including Reoviridiae (including two coltiviruses) and a novel Flaviviridae-like jingmenvirus. Of note, a novel hard tick-borne relapsing fever Borrelia sp. was identified in questing H. bancrofti ticks which is closely related to, but distinct from, cervid-associated Borrelia spp. found throughout Asia. Notably, all tick-borne microorganisms were phylogenetically unique compared to their relatives found outside Australia, and no foreign tick-borne human pathogens such as Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. or Babesia microti were found. This work adds to the growing literature demonstrating that Australian ticks harbour a unique and endemic microbial fauna, including potentially zoonotic agents which should be further studied to determine their relative risk to human and animal health.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: 6mentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Metatranscriptomic profiling reveals diverse tick‐borne bacteria, protozoans and viruses in ticks and wildlife from Australia

Gofton

Blasdell

Taylor

et al. 2022

Transbounding Emerging Dis

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“…(2021) , and the primary research papers by Barker et al. (2021) , Egan et al. (2021) , Ellis et al.…”

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confidence: 99%

Editorial: First anniversary of

Kostadinova

2021

Current Research in Parasitology & Vector-Borne Diseases

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Associations between wildlife observations, human-tick encounters and landscape features in a peri-urban tick hotspot

2023

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Zoonotic disease vectors, their wildlife hosts, and the surrounding landscape interact in complex ways that vary spatially, temporally and with anthropogenic change. Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are one of the most important vectors of human disease globally but managing the risk of tick bites in urban areas requires a detailed understanding of these complex vector-host-environment relationships at multiple spatial scales. Extensive knowledge gaps of these interactions in Australia limits options for managing ticks and exacerbates human-wildlife conflict. To address this, we used an online survey to determine the potential drivers of human-tick encounters operating at the local, yard scale and at the broader, landscape scale in a peri-urban area of Australia. We explored the relationships between reported tick encounters in yards and yard traits, host sightings (yard-scale) and broader landscape traits (landscape-scale). We found that sightings of potential hosts such as long-nosed bandicoots (Perameles nasuta) and brush-turkeys (Alectura lathami), and broader landscape traits such as distance to wet sclerophyll forest, were important predictors of reported tick encounters. Yard traits such as garden mulching and leaf litter cover showed no relationships with tick encounters. However, garden mulching and the absence of pets were predictors of frequent bandicoot sightings in yards. Mulching over 20m2, moderate to dense leaf litter cover on lawns, and living adjacent to bush were predictors of frequent brush-turkey sightings in yards. Our results suggest that residents may be able to reduce tick encounter risk by making yards less attractive to potential hosts. The observed relationships provide a critical foundation for field studies that can determine underlying mechanisms and inform appropriate tick management in urban environments. Graphical abstract

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Haemoprotozoan surveillance in peri-urban native and introduced wildlife from Australia

Cited by 10 publications

References 113 publications

Metatranscriptomic profiling reveals diverse tick‐borne bacteria, protozoans and viruses in ticks and wildlife from Australia

Metatranscriptomic profiling reveals diverse tick‐borne bacteria, protozoans and viruses in ticks and wildlife from Australia

Editorial: First anniversary of

Associations between wildlife observations, human-tick encounters and landscape features in a peri-urban tick hotspot

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