Ornithodoros puertoricensis (Ixodida: Argasidae) Associated With Domestic Fowl in Rural Dwellings From Córdoba Department, Caribbean Colombia

Abstract

Ticks of genus Ornithodoros are nidicolous parasites associated with a wide array of vertebrates. In humans, their bites cause hypersensitivity reactions and are capable to transmit pathogens of health concern. In the department of Córdoba, Caribbean region of Colombia, the first report of an Ornithodoros soft tick was made in 1980 by Betancourt, who described the collection of Ornithodoros talaje in human dwellings. Nevertheless, current the records of O. talaje made in South America have been questioned and likely correspond to misidentifications with morphologically similar species. Between October and December of 2020, we visited rural areas of four localities from three municipalities within the department of Córdoba: Cuero Curtido and Severá (municipality of Cereté), El Espanto (municipality of Planeta Rica), and Arroyo Negro (municipality of San Carlos). Search for soft ticks was performed in 46 human domiciles and peridomiciliary areas. We searched in areas frequented by domestic animals, inspecting cracks in the walls and fowl nests. Infestation by soft ticks was found in 13% (6/46) of visited houses. Overall, 215 ticks were collected (26 larvae, 144 nymphs and 45 adults) from nests of domestic birds or in the adjacent walls. Larvae, nymphs and adults were morphologically identified as Ornithodoros puertoricensis. Molecular identification of ticks was confirmed by sequencing the tick mitochondrial 16S gene of adults, pools of nymphs and larvae. Pairwise comparisons showed a 99% of identity with O. puertoricensis from Panama. This study reports for the first time O. puertoricensis associated with domestic fowl in rural dwellings in Colombia, and expands the geographical distribution of this tick species toward the Córdoba department. Importantly, local people described exposure to tick bites while sleeping in infested houses; therefore, the transmission of soft tick-borne pathogens is now of concern in the region.

Bacteria related to tick-borne pathogen assemblages in Ornithodoros cf. hasei (Acari: Argasidae) and blood of the wild mammal hosts in the Orinoquia region, Colombia

“…Some species distributed in Colombia such as O. rudis have been related to recurrent fevers in the 20th century (Franco et al 1911 ; Pino Pou 1984 ; Faccini-Martínez and Botero-García 2016 ) but the old and rare reports of Ornithodoros spp. require taxonomic confirmation (López et al 2021 ).…”

Confirmation of the presence of Rickettsia felis infecting Ornithodoros puertoricensis in Mexico

“…Since the two infested hosts were recovered in urban areas of the state of Veracruz, it is necessary to monitor burrows and human settlements to identify whether ticks may be feeding on humans, as has been previously shown in Panama and Colombia (Bermúdez et al, 2017; López et al, 2021).…”

“…However, it is essential to continue with studies that confirm the effective mechanism of transmission to ticks of a pathogen confirmed to date as exclusively transmitted by fleas (Blanton et al, 2016). Since the two infested hosts were recovered in urban areas of the state of Veracruz, it is necessary to monitor burrows and human settlements to identify whether ticks may be feeding on humans, as has been previously shown in Panama and Colombia (Bermúdez et al, 2017;L opez et al, 2021).…”

First report of Ornithodoros puertoricensis (Argasidae) and Amblyomma dissimile (Ixodidae) on Tamandua mexicana (Myrmecophagidae)

“…All sequences were compared with GenBank reference sequences. A 99.51% identity percentage was obtained for O. puertoricensis MZ005590.1 and MZ005589.1 (López et al 2021) with the 16S rRNA sequence. For the CO1 sequence, an identity of 82.55% was obtained with the species Ornithodoros spheniscus MN027573.1 (Muñoz-García et al 2019), this is due to the fact that in GenBank there are no records of sequences of this gene for O. puertoricensis.…”