Rickettsial infection in ticks from a natural area of Atlantic Forest biome in southern Brazil

‘Candidatus Rickettsia andeanae’ and Probable Exclusion of Rickettsia parkeri in Ticks from Dogs in a Natural Area of the Pampa Biome in Brazil

“…During the second and third field campaigns, 17 and 20 of the first campaign-dogs, respectively, were re-examined for tick infestations, resulting in a total of 70 canine examinations during the study. Individual canine examinations for ticks were performed as described next [ 21 ]. Briefly, it consisted of a 3–4 min examination period of the entire canine body, from which the collected ticks were put in plastic tubes and transported alive to the laboratory.…”

“…In each of the three campaigns, collection of host-seeking ticks from ground vegetation consisted of passing a cotton flannel (75 × 100 cm) by one investigator through a 50–100 m trail, as described in [ 21 , 28 ]. In parallel, we used the visual search method, as described in [ 29 ].…”

“…Other frozen or alcohol-preserved adults and the body remnants of ticks processed by the shell vial technique had their DNA extracted through the guanidine isothiocyanate and phenol/chloroform technique [ 34 ]. Unengorged nymphal ticks were processed individually by boiling [ 21 , 35 ]. Tick DNA samples were tested by a TaqMan real-time PCR assay, targeting a 147 bp fragment of the rickettsial gltA gene [ 33 , 36 ].…”

“…For this purpose, each serum was initially tested at the 1:64 dilution in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Slides were incubated with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled rabbit anti-dog IgG (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA), goat anti-mouse IgG (Sigma), sheep anti-opossum IgG (CCZ, São Paulo, Brazil) and rabbit anti-guinea pig IgG (Sigma) for canine, rodent, marsupial and Cavia aperea sera, respectively, as previously reported [ 21 ]. Serum samples that were reactive at the 1:64 dilution were titrated in in two-fold increments to determine the endpoint IgG titers to each of the six Rickettsia antigens.…”

>b<Ectoparasitofauna (Acari: Ixodida and Gamasida; Insecta:Siphonaptera) from terrestrial mammals>/b<: diversity, taxonomic aspects and associated zoonotic rickettsiales in Legado das Águas - Reserva Votorantim, in Tapiraí and Miracatu, São Paulo

“…Regarding the Rickettsia species detected in ticks, R. bellii was the most prevalent species and with the most incredible range of tick species infection. Representing the only species found interacting with I. loricatus populations, mentioned in other studies from Brazil Krawczak et al, 2022) and also being the first rickettsiae described infecting this tick species . One A. brasiliense was positive for this Rickettsia species, making this a new record since many other studies tested this tick molecularly, not being able to amplify any rickettsial DNA from this species (Sabatini et al, 2010;Acosta et al, 2016;Luz et al, 2018), the other species already found interacting with this tick is R. amblyommatis as shown by Krawczak et al, 2022. The Ha.…”