Miranda Jorge, Violet-Lozano Lina, Barrera Samia, Mattar Salim, Monsalve-Buriticá Santiago, Rodas Juan, Contreras Verónica
University of Córdoba, Institute of Tropical Biology Research, Córdoba, Colombia.
Corporación Universitaria Lasallista, Colombia.
Vet World. 2020 Sep;13(9):1764-1770. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.1764-1770. Epub 2020 Sep 3.
Wildlife animals are reservoirs of a large number of microorganisms pathogenic to humans, and ticks could be responsible for the transmission of these pathogens. spp. are the most prevalent pathogens found in ticks. This study was conducted to detect spp. in ticks collected from free-living and illegally trafficked reptiles from the Department of Córdoba, Colombia.
During the period from October 2011 to July 2014, ticks belonging to the family Ixodidae were collected, preserved in 96% ethanol, identified using taxonomic keys, and pooled (between 1 and 14 ticks) according to sex, stage, host, and collected place for subsequent DNA extraction. detection was performed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), followed by conventional PCR to amplify a larger fragment of the and genes. The amplicons were sequenced using the Sanger method, and the nucleotide sequences were subjected to BLAST analysis to identify homologous sequences in GenBank, after which phylogenetic analysis was performed using the MEGA X software.
In total, 21 specimens of nine species of reptiles were sampled, from which 805 ticks were collected, but only 180 ticks were selected to create 34 groups. The DNA of spp. was detected in 30/34 (88%) groups. The sequences of the gene and revealed a 100% identity with Rickettsia colombianensi (GenBank: KF905456 and GenBank: KF691750).
was the only tick found in all the sampled reptiles. The presence of Rickettsia colombianensi in reptile ticks could represent a public health problem due to the risk of transmission to humans and the introduction of microorganisms to other geographical areas.
野生动物是大量对人类致病的微生物的宿主，蜱可能是这些病原体的传播媒介。立克次氏体属是在蜱中发现的最普遍的病原体。本研究旨在检测从哥伦比亚科尔多瓦省自由生活和非法交易的爬行动物身上采集的蜱中的立克次氏体属。
在2011年10月至2014年7月期间，采集硬蜱科的蜱，保存在96%乙醇中，使用分类学检索表进行鉴定，并根据性别、发育阶段、宿主和采集地点进行合并（1至14只蜱），以便后续进行DNA提取。使用实时聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）进行立克次氏体属检测，随后进行常规PCR以扩增立克次氏体属和巴通体属基因的更大片段。扩增产物使用桑格法进行测序，核苷酸序列进行BLAST分析以鉴定GenBank中的同源序列，之后使用MEGA X软件进行系统发育分析。
总共对9种爬行动物的21个样本进行了采样，从中采集了805只蜱，但仅选择了180只蜱组成34组。在34组中的30组（88%）检测到立克次氏体属DNA。立克次氏体属基因和巴通体属基因的序列与哥伦比亚立克次氏体（GenBank：KF905456和GenBank：KF691750）具有100%的同一性。
在所有采样的爬行动物中发现的唯一蜱种。由于存在传播给人类的风险以及将微生物引入其他地理区域的可能性，爬行动物蜱中存在哥伦比亚立克次氏体可能代表一个公共卫生问题。
