Rickettsia spp. in Dermacentor marginatus ticks: analysis of the host-vector-pathogen interactions in a northern Mediterranean area

Abstract

In this work, we have analyzed the key features of Rickettsia spp. maintenance in Dermacentor marginatus ticks in four regions of the northern Mediterranean area, where extensive investigations are currently lacking. For this purpose, 380 adult D. marginatus ticks were collected from vegetation and wild ungulates during a 3-year study. A host-vector-pathogen interaction approach was applied to investigate the key components of the disease systems and evaluate their respective weight in the intensity of infection in natural foci. A high variability in the R. slovaca infection rate among sampling sites was observed, whereas R. raoultii was sporadically present and at low infection rates. Dermacentor marginatus presence was confirmed in all the investigated regions. The local wild boar population showed a strong association with adult D. marginatus ticks. The results of this investigation suggest that wild boars not only maintain D. marginatus populations by feeding adult ticks, but may also have a potential role in the eco-epidemiology of rickettsioses, as carriers of rickettsiae-infected ticks. The public health implications of these results are discussed.

Tick‐borne pathogens in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from various domestic and wild hosts in Corsica (France), a Mediterranean island environment

“…Rickettsia slovaca DNA was identified mainly in D. marginatus which is an important natural vector of this bacterium. This report confirmed the results of Selmi et al () who identified R. slovaca in D. marginatus collected on Corsican vegetation. Rickettsia slovaca was first isolated in 1968 in a D. marginatus specimen collected in Slovakia and is largely spread in the Mediterranean area.…”

“…Rickettsia slovaca was first isolated in 1968 in a D. marginatus specimen collected in Slovakia and is largely spread in the Mediterranean area. It was found in Sardinia and continental Italy (Chisu et al, and Selmi et al, ), mainland France (Beati, Finidori, & Raoult, ) and Spain (Fernández‐Soto, Pérez‐Sánchez, Encinas‐Grandes, & Sanz, ). The first proven human case of R .…”

“…marginatum in 1997 from Morocco (Beati, Meskini, Thiers, & Raoult, 1997) and is now reported in the whole Mediterranean area (Parola et al, 2013). (Chisu et al, 2017 andSelmi et al, 2017), mainland France (Beati, Finidori, & Raoult, 1993) and Spain (Fernández-Soto, Pérez-Sánchez, Encinas-Grandes, & Sanz, 2006).…”

“…Some of the TBPs occurring in Corsica have been reported more or less reliably in former and recent studies. Various species of the genera Anaplasma , Rickettsia and Ehrlichia (Cabezas‐Cruz et al, ; Cicculli, Capai, et al, ; Cicculli, Lamballerie, Charrel, & Charrel, ; Cicculli, Masse, et al, ; Dahmani, Davoust, Tahir, et al, ; ICTTD, ; Matsumoto, Parola, Brouqui, & Raoult, ; Selmi, Ballardini, Salvato, & Ricci, ), and the genera Babesia and Theileria (ICTTD, ) have been identified, and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato was recently reported (Cicculli, Capai, et al, ). It has remained uncertain whether all of the Corsican TBPs are known.…”

Tick-borne pathogens in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) collected from various domestic and wild hosts in Corsica (France), a Mediterranean island environment

“…Some of the TBPs occurring on Corsica have been reported more or less reliably in former and recent studies. Various species of the genera Anaplasma , Rickettsia and Ehrlichia (ICTTD, 2000; Matsumoto at al., 2004; Dahmani et al, 2017; Selmi et al, 2017; Cabezas-Cruz et al, 2019; Cicculli et al, 2019a, 2019b, 2019c), the genera Babesia and Theileria (ICTTD, 2000) have been identified, and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato was recently reported (Cicculli et al, 2019c). It remained uncertain whether all of the Corsican TBPs were known.…”