Unique Strain of Rickettsia parkeri Associated with the Hard Tick Dermacentor parumapertus Neumann in the Western United States.

ABSTRACT: In 1953, investigators at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, MT, described the isolation of a spotted fever group Rickettsia (SFGR) species from Dermacentor parumapertus ticks collected from black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) in northern Nevada. Several decades later, investigators characterized this SFGR (designated the parumapertus agent) by using mouse serotyping methods and determined that it represented a distinct rickettsial serotype closely related to Rickettsia parkeri; nonetheless, the parumapertus agent was not further characterized or studied. To our knowledge, no isolates of the parumapertus agent remain in any rickettsial culture collection, which precludes contemporary phylogenetic placement of this enigmatic SFGR. To rediscover the parumapertus agent, ad

SUBMITTER: Paddock CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5394329 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature