Carpi Giovanna, Bertolotti Luigi, Pecchioli Elena, Cagnacci Francesca, Rizzoli Annapaola
Centre for Alpine Ecology, Edmund Mach Foundation, Trento, Italy.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2009 Apr;9(2):179-84. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2008.0068.
Anaplasma phagocytophilum is an emerging tick-borne pathogen with both veterinary and human health implications. The role of wildlife hosts for this pathogen are not well defined, even thought roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) has been suggested to contribute to the occurrence of this tick-borne diseases in Europe. Therefore the aim of the present study was to investigate the potential role of this ungulate species as a reservoir of human pathogenic strains of A. phagocytophilum in a tick-borne diseases endemic area in Northeastern Italy. Ixodes ricinus feeding on roe deer were collected and analyzed for the presence for A. phagocytophilum by a molecular approach targeting 16S rRNA and groEL genes. The mean prevalence of A. phagocytophilum recorded was 5.11%, highlighting the ability of roe deer to infect the I. ricinus larval stage. The results of further genetic characterization of the strains of A. phagocytophilum herein isolated, based on phylogenetic information contained in groEL gene sequences, showed substantial heterogeneity among sequences analyzed. Nevertheless, these findings suggest that the roe deer population of the Trentino region of Italy harbors strains of A. phagocytophilum of unknown pathogenicity for humans.
嗜吞噬细胞无形体是一种新出现的蜱传病原体，对兽医和人类健康均有影响。尽管有人认为狍（Capreolus capreolus）在欧洲蜱传疾病的发生中起到了一定作用，但该病原体野生动物宿主的作用尚未明确界定。因此，本研究的目的是在意大利东北部蜱传疾病流行地区，调查这种有蹄类动物作为嗜吞噬细胞无形体人类致病菌株宿主的潜在作用。采集了以狍为宿主的蓖麻硬蜱，采用针对16S rRNA和groEL基因的分子方法分析其中是否存在嗜吞噬细胞无形体。记录到的嗜吞噬细胞无形体平均感染率为5.11%，突出了狍感染蓖麻硬蜱幼虫阶段的能力。根据groEL基因序列中包含的系统发育信息，对本文分离的嗜吞噬细胞无形体菌株进行进一步基因特征分析的结果显示，分析的序列之间存在显著的异质性。然而，这些发现表明，意大利特伦蒂诺地区的狍种群携带对人类致病性未知的嗜吞噬细胞无形体菌株。
