Department of Immunology, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Recife, Brazil.
Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Acta Trop. 2022 Sep;233:106541. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2022.106541. Epub 2022 May 24.
Ornithodoros mimon is an argasid tick primarily associated with bats that also infest other animals including birds, opossums and humans. In this paper, we report the finding of an argasid species resembling O. mimon, which similarly may be found in human dwellings and parasitize humans in Brazil. We also provide molecular evidence that this argasid tick species may carry a rickettsial organism, whose pathogenicity remains unknown. A total of 16 ticks (two females, two males and 12 nymphs) were collected in the bedroom and in the attic of a human house, where cases of "insect" bites have been recurrent. These ticks were identified morphologically and genetically as Ornithodoros cf. mimon. Upon PCR testing, four of these ticks (one female and three nymphs) were positive for human blood and for a bacterium closely related to "Candidatus Rickettsia paranaensis". In conclusion, we report for the first time in Brazil an argasid tick species morphologically and genetically related to O. mimon, which feeds on humans and carry a rickettsial organism belonging to the spotted fever group. Further studies are needed to formally assess the taxonomic status of this tick species and also to investigate the pathogenicity of its associated rickettsial organism.
钝缘蜱属（Ornithodoros）的螨主要与蝙蝠有关，但也会寄生在包括鸟类、负鼠和人类在内的其他动物身上。在本文中，我们报告了一种类似于 O. mimon 的钝缘蜱属螨的发现，这种螨可能同样存在于人类住所中，并在巴西寄生人类。我们还提供了分子证据，表明这种钝缘蜱属螨可能携带一种立克次体生物，其致病性尚不清楚。共采集了 16 只蜱虫（两只雌蜱、两只雄蜱和 12 只若蜱），分别来自人类住宅的卧室和阁楼，这些地方经常出现“昆虫”叮咬的情况。这些蜱虫通过形态学和遗传学鉴定为似钝缘蜱属（Ornithodoros cf. mimon）。通过 PCR 检测，其中 4 只蜱虫（一只雌蜱和 3 只若蜱）对人血和与“Candidatus Rickettsia paranaensis”密切相关的细菌呈阳性。总之，我们首次在巴西报告了一种形态学和遗传学上与 O. mimon 相关的钝缘蜱属螨，它以人类为食，并携带一种属于斑点热群的立克次体生物。需要进一步的研究来正式评估这种蜱虫的分类地位，并调查其相关立克次体生物的致病性。
