Prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in ruminants, rodents and ticks in Gansu, north-western China

Abstract

The zoonotic rickettsial pathogen Anaplasma phagocytophilum has a broad geographical distribution and a high degree of biological and clinical diversity. To determine the prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province, north-western China, four ruminant species, one rodent and one tick species were examined for Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection. DNA from Anaplasma phagocytophilum was detected by nested PCR in blood samples from 21/49 sheep (42.9 %), 35/91 goats (38.5 %), 51/158 yaks (32.3 %) and 7/20 cattle-yaks (35.0 %), and in spleen samples from 2/12 rodents (16.7 %). For samples from tick larvae and nymphs, 105 pools were tested; one of 46 larval tick pools was positive and seven of 59 nymphal tick pools were positive. For adult ticks, 40/598 female ticks (6.7 %) and 26/528 male ticks (4.9 %) were positive. The prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in female ticks was higher than that in males, although the difference was not statistically significant (P.0.05). Sequences analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene indicated that the strains in the study area were distinct from previously reported Anaplasma phagocytophilum in other continents. These results add new information on the epidemiology of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and indicate the tick-animal cycle of anaplasmosis in the area. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection in Gansu Province in north-western China.

First detection on prevalence of Anaplasma marginale in sheep and goat in Karak District, Pakistan

“…Furthermore, among all the risk factors associated, tick presence and unhygienic condition were highly associated with infection as shown by coefficient of correlation (Table 2). Indirect ELISA Real-time PCR [2,8,[16][17][18]. In small ruminants, the overall prevalence rate was 33.87%…”

First Molecular Evidence of <i>Anaplasma phagocytophilum</i> in Rodent Populations of Nanchang, China

“…The first wild animals observed to be positive for A. phagocytophilum in east China were Apodemus peninsulae, A. agrarius, and Eutamias sibiricus (15). A. agrarius was subsequently found to be infected with A. phagocytophilum in west China (9). This evidence appeared to support the role of the genus Apodemus as reservoirs in the natural life cycle of A. phagocytophilum.…”

“…Dogs from both urban and rural habitats in Brazil were found to be positive for A. phagocytophilum (12). In addition, goats and sheep were highly infected with A. phagocytophilum in China (9). In Nanchang, however, a previous examination could not detect the presence of A. phagocytophilum.…”

“…phagocytophilum appears to be a generalist, infecting a wide range of animals, such as humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, including rodents, throughout the world (7)(8)(9)(10). Previous studies showed that various field and domestic animals are considered as important reservoirs of A. phagocytophilum.…”

Molecular characterization and specific detection of Anaplasma species (AP-sd) in sika deer and its first detection in wild brown bears and rodents in Hokkaido, Japan

“…(APsd) detected in sika deer and cattle (Jilintai et al, 2009), is very common in Japan. AP-sd has also been reported as a strain of A. phagocytophilum in Japan and China (Kawahara et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2012;Yang et al, 2013), deer type A. phagocytophilum (Wu et al, 2015) or an Anaplasma species closely related to A. phagocytophilum (Ybañez et al, 2013). Despite the last report showing high prevalence in sika deer, N45% (10/ 22) (Jilintai et al, 2009), AP-sd has never been reported from humans.…”