Getange Dennis, Bargul Joel L, Kanduma Esther, Collins Marisol, Bodha Boku, Denge Diba, Chiuya Tatenda, Githaka Naftaly, Younan Mario, Fèvre Eric M, Bell-Sakyi Lesley, Villinger Jandouwe
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi P.O. Box 30772-00100, Kenya.
Department of Biochemistry, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi P.O. Box 62000-00200, Kenya.
Microorganisms. 2021 Jun 30;9(7):1414. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9071414.
Ticks and tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) are major constraints to camel health and production, yet epidemiological data on their diversity and impact on dromedary camels remain limited. We surveyed the diversity of ticks and TBPs associated with camels and co-grazing sheep at 12 sites in Marsabit County, northern Kenya. We screened blood and ticks (858 pools) from 296 camels and 77 sheep for bacterial and protozoan TBPs by high-resolution melting analysis and sequencing of PCR products. (75.7%), (17.6%) and (6.7%) spp. ticks were morphologically identified and confirmed by molecular analyses. We detected TBP DNA in 80.1% of blood samples from 296 healthy camels. " Anaplasma camelii", " Ehrlichia regneryi" and were detected in both camels and associated ticks, and , , and endosymbionts were detected in camel ticks. We also detected , which is responsible for heartwater disease in ruminants, in ticks infesting camels and sheep and in sheep blood, indicating its endemicity in Marsabit. Our findings also suggest that camels and/or the ticks infesting them are disease reservoirs of zoonotic Q fever (), ehrlichiosis () and rickettsiosis (), which pose public health threats to pastoralist communities.
蜱虫及其传播的病原体是骆驼健康和生产的主要制约因素，但关于它们的多样性以及对单峰骆驼影响的流行病学数据仍然有限。我们在肯尼亚北部马萨比特县的12个地点，对与骆驼以及共同放牧的绵羊相关的蜱虫和蜱传病原体的多样性进行了调查。我们通过对PCR产物进行高分辨率熔解分析和测序，对来自296头骆驼和77只绵羊的血液及蜱虫（858组）进行了细菌和原生动物蜱传病原体筛查。通过形态学鉴定并经分子分析确认，（75.7%）、（17.6%）和（6.7%）的蜱虫种类被识别出来。我们在296头健康骆驼的80.1%的血液样本中检测到了蜱传病原体DNA。在骆驼及其相关蜱虫中均检测到了“骆驼无形体”“雷氏埃立克体”以及，并且在骆驼蜱虫中检测到了、、和内共生菌。我们还在寄生在骆驼和绵羊身上的蜱虫以及绵羊血液中检测到了可导致反刍动物心水病的，这表明其在马萨比特县呈地方流行性。我们的研究结果还表明，骆驼和/或寄生在它们身上的蜱虫是人畜共患Q热（）、埃立克体病（）和立克次体病（）的疾病宿主，这些疾病对牧民社区构成了公共卫生威胁。
