Metagenomic profiles of Dermacentor tick pathogens from across Mongolia, using next generation sequencing

Abstract

Tick-borne diseases are a major public health concern in Mongolia. Nomadic pastoralists, which make up ~ 26% of Mongolia’s population, are at an increased risk of both tick bite exposure and economic loss associated with clinical disease in herds. This study sought to further characterize tick-borne pathogens present in Dermacentor ticks (n = 1,773) sampled in 2019 from 15 of Mongolia’s 21 aimags (provinces). The ticks were morphologically identified and sorted into 377 pools which were then screened using Next-Generation Sequencing paired with confirmatory PCR and DNA sequence analysis. Rickettsia spp. were detected in 88.33% of pools, while Anaplasma spp. and Bartonella spp. were detected in 3.18 and 0.79% of pools, respectively. Khentii had the highest infection rate for Rickettsia spp. (76.61%; CI: 34.65–94.79%), while Arkhangai had the highest infection rate for Anaplasma spp. (7.79%; CI:4.04–13.72%). The exclusive detection of Anaplasma spp. in tick pools collected from livestock supports previous work in this area that suggests livestock play a significant role in disease maintenance. The detection of Anaplasma, Bartonella, and Rickettsia demonstrates a heightened risk for infection throughout Mongolia, with this study, to our knowledge, documenting the first detection of Bartonella melophagi in ticks collected in Mongolia. Further research deploying NGS methods is needed to characterize tick-borne pathogens in other endemic tick species found in Mongolia, including Hyalomma asiaticum and Ixodes persulcatus.

Seroprevalence and risk factors of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Rickettsia species infection in humans in Mongolia, 2016–2020

“…According to our study, Rickettsia seroprevalence was higher in the western provinces than in the eastern provinces. Altantogtoh et al [ 44 ] previously reported that Rickettsia was more prevalent in tick pools in the western and eastern provinces of Mongolia than in those in the other provinces. This shows that there is considerable geographic variability in the ecology of Rickettsia spp.…”

Meta-transcriptomics for the diversity of tick-borne virus in Nujiang, Yunnan Province

“…Tick-borne viruses pose a significant health threat to human and animal populations. With the application of high-throughput sequencing technology, many novel tick-borne bacteria and viruses have been identified in various ticks around the world, including countries like Korea, Mongolia, Nigeria, and China ( Kamani et al., 2019 ; Altantogtokh et al., 2022 ; Lee et al., 2023 ; Yang et al., 2023 ). Researchers detected numerous arboviral viruses by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology in 640 ticks collected in eight provinces in central and western China, including 13 novel viruses ( Yang et al., 2023 ).…”