High Incidence of a Novel Rickettsia Genotype in Parasitic Haemaphysalis longicornis from China-North Korea Border.

ABSTRACT: Ticks are notorious vectors for various pathogens that cause infections in animals and humans worldwide. Rickettsia spp., a zoonotic tick-borne pathogen that could be used as a weapon agent, is widely spread in China. In the present study, ticks were collected for species identification and Rickettsia screening. PCR amplification targeting the tick 18s rRNA gene was first conducted for species validation, and then, amplification was conducted for the Rickettsia housekeeping gene for the infection rate and phylogenetic analysis. The collected ticks were identified as Haemaphysalis longicornis, 7.36% of which were Rickettsia-positive. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the Rickettsia in the parasitic ticks belonged to a novel genotype, whose closest genetic relationship was with Rickettsi

SUBMITTER: Xu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6440996 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature