Pathogens, endosymbionts, and blood-meal sources of host-seeking ticks in the fast-changing Maasai Mara wildlife ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: The role of questing ticks in the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR), an ecosystem with intensified human-wildlife-livestock interactions, remains poorly understood. We surveyed the diversity of questing ticks, their blood-meal hosts, and tick-borne pathogens to understand potential effects on human and livestock health. By flagging and hand-picking from vegetation in 25 localities, we collected 1,465 host-seeking ticks, mostly Rhipicephalus and Amblyomma species identified by morphology and molecular analysis. We used PCR with high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis and sequencing to identify Anaplasma, Babesia, Coxiella, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, and Theileria pathogens and blood-meal remnants in 231 tick pools. We detected blood-meals from hum

SUBMITTER: Oundo JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7458302 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature