Yessinou Roland Eric, Adehan Safiou, Hedegbetan Georges Codjo, Cassini Rudi, Mantip Samuel Elias, Farougou Souaïbou
Communicable Diseases Research Unit (URMAT), University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), 01, PO Box: 2009, Cotonou, Benin.
National Institute of Agronomic Research/Agronomic Research Centre of Agonkanmey, 01, PO Box: 2900, Cotonou, Benin.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2022 Sep 16;54(5):306. doi: 10.1007/s11250-022-03286-5.
Tick and tick-borne pathogens constitute a growing veterinary and public health concern around the world. Ticks are considered natural reservoirs for tick-borne related pathogens and are equally responsible for the spread of infections in animals as well as humans. In this study, the presence of Rickettsia, Bartonella, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum was investigated in hard ticks collected from reptiles, birds, and wild mammalian animals. The sample collection was carried out between December 2020 and September 2021. Adult ticks (male and female) were collected from wild animals in six districts of southern Benin. Molecular analysis was used to verify the presence of pathogens in all the ticks collected from wild animals. A total of 504 ticks were collected and grouped into 115 different tick pools. The PCR analysis detected 19 out of 115 tick pools which turn out positive for Rickettsia spp. and 9/115 tick pools positive for Bartonella spp., while Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA was not detected in any tick. Several of the tick species collected from our studied reptiles/wild mammalian animals could be potential sources of zoonotic pathogens when subjected to further investigation. Therefore, stringent attention should be established for tick infestation of reptiles/wild mammalian animals in order to put in place proper control and prevention measures for tick-borne diseases in the wild, which could serve as reservoirs in the infestation of domestic animals/humans in the event of any possible contact.
蜱虫及蜱传病原体在全球范围内对兽医和公共卫生构成了日益严重的威胁。蜱虫被认为是蜱传相关病原体的天然宿主，对动物和人类感染的传播负有同等责任。在本研究中，对从爬行动物、鸟类和野生哺乳动物身上采集的硬蜱进行了立克次氏体、巴尔通体和嗜吞噬细胞无形体的检测。样本采集于2020年12月至2021年9月期间进行。成年蜱虫（雄性和雌性）从贝宁南部六个地区的野生动物身上采集。分子分析用于验证从野生动物采集的所有蜱虫中病原体的存在。总共采集了504只蜱虫，并分为115个不同的蜱虫池。PCR分析检测到115个蜱虫池中19个对立克次氏体属呈阳性，9/115个蜱虫池对巴尔通体属呈阳性，而在任何蜱虫中均未检测到嗜吞噬细胞无形体DNA。从我们研究的爬行动物/野生哺乳动物身上采集的几种蜱虫物种，经过进一步调查可能是人畜共患病原体的潜在来源。因此，应严格关注爬行动物/野生哺乳动物的蜱虫感染情况，以便为野外蜱传疾病制定适当的控制和预防措施，在发生任何可能接触的情况下，这些野生动物可能成为家畜/人类感染的宿主。
