Isolation of Rickettsia parkeri and identification of a novel spotted fever group Rickettsia sp. from Gulf Coast ticks (Amblyomma maculatum) in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Until recently, Amblyomma maculatum (the Gulf Coast tick) had garnered little attention compared to other species of human-biting ticks in the United States. A. maculatum is now recognized as the principal vector of Rickettsia parkeri, a pathogenic spotted fever group rickettsia (SFGR) that causes an eschar-associated illness in humans that resembles Rocky Mountain spotted fever. A novel SFGR, distinct from other recognized Rickettsia spp., has also been detected recently in A. maculatum specimens collected in several regions of the southeastern United States. In this study, 198 questing adult Gulf Coast ticks were collected at 4 locations in Florida and Mississippi; 28% of these ticks were infected with R. parkeri, and 2% of these were infected with a novel SFGR. Seventeen isolates of R.

SUBMITTER: Paddock CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2863434 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature