Salceda-Sánchez Beatriz, Gasca-Zarate Cecilia M, Jiménez-Soto Karen, Grostieta Estefania, López-Sánchez Claudia G, Soto-Gutiérrez Juan J, Lammoglia-Villagómez Miguel Á, Huerta-Peña Javier, Hernández-Carbajal Gabriela R, Chagoya-Fuentes Jorge L, Jácome-Sosa Edelmira, Pérez-Brígido Carlos D, Ballados-González Gerardo G, Becker Ingeborg, Sánchez-Montes Sokani
Laboratorio de Entomología, Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos, Secretaría de Salud, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias región Tuxpan, Universidad Veracruzana, Tuxpan de Rodríguez Cano, Veracruz, Mexico.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2023 Mar;70(2):176-183. doi: 10.1111/zph.13011. Epub 2022 Nov 21.
Fleas and ticks represent the two main groups of ectoparasites that infest companion animals. In particular, the flea Ctenocephalides felis felis and several members of the Rhipicephalus sanguineus complex are the main vectors of a wide range of pathogens on the American continent. They are competent vectors for several members of the genus Rickettsia, which encompass at least 15 pathogenic obligate intracellular bacteria that colonize the endothelial cells of vertebrates. In Mexico, 10 species of Rickettsia belonging to three groups have been detected in six species of ectoparasites from dogs in 9 of the 32 states of the country. However, in some larger regions of the country, active epidemiological surveillance has not been carried out. For this reason, the aim of this study was to identify the presence of members of the genus Rickettsia in fleas and ticks of dogs and cats in the state of Puebla, Mexico. A cross-sectional study was carried out to collect ectoparasites of dogs and cats during August to November 2019. Samples were fixed in 70% ethanol and examined to identify the presence of Rickettsia DNA by the amplification and sequencing of specific fragments of the gltA and ompB genes using conventional PCR. The recovered sequences were compared with those deposited in GenBank, and phylogenetic analyses were carried out to identify the position of the pathogens detected with respect to the valid species previously reported worldwide. Additionally, ecological parameters of the ectoparasite infestations were also calculated. We recovered 196 ectoparasites belonging to two species, 33 C. felis felis and 163 R. sanguineus s.l. (Rhipicephalus linnaei), parasitizing 46 hosts (42 dogs and 4 cats) in 11 localities of the state of Puebla. We detected the presence of Rickettsia felis in three pools of C. felis felis, and five from R. sanguineus s.l. Our work provides the first record of R. felis in hard ticks of Mexico and Central America, with new collection localities for this pathogen in central Mexico.
跳蚤和蜱虫是寄生在伴侣动物身上的两大类体外寄生虫。特别是猫栉首蚤指名亚种（Ctenocephalides felis felis）和血红扇头蜱复合种（Rhipicephalus sanguineus complex）的几个成员，是美洲大陆上多种病原体的主要传播媒介。它们是立克次氏体属（Rickettsia）几个成员的有效传播媒介，该属包含至少15种致病性专性细胞内细菌，这些细菌寄生于脊椎动物的内皮细胞中。在墨西哥，该国32个州中的9个州的犬类身上的6种体外寄生虫中，已检测到属于三个组的10种立克次氏体。然而，在该国一些较大的地区，尚未开展积极的流行病学监测。因此，本研究的目的是确定墨西哥普埃布拉州犬猫的跳蚤和蜱虫中立克次氏体属成员的存在情况。于2019年8月至11月开展了一项横断面研究，以收集犬猫的体外寄生虫。样本固定于70%乙醇中，并通过使用常规PCR扩增和测序gltA和ompB基因的特定片段来检测立克次氏体DNA的存在。将回收的序列与GenBank中保存的序列进行比较，并进行系统发育分析，以确定检测到的病原体相对于先前全球报道的有效物种的位置。此外，还计算了体外寄生虫感染的生态参数。我们回收了属于两个物种的196只体外寄生虫，33只猫栉首蚤指名亚种和163只血红扇头蜱狭义亚种（Rhipicephalus linnaei），它们寄生在普埃布拉州11个地区的46只宿主（42只狗和4只猫）身上。我们在3组猫栉首蚤指名亚种和5组血红扇头蜱狭义亚种中检测到了猫立克次氏体（Rickettsia felis）的存在。我们的工作首次记录了墨西哥和中美洲硬蜱中存在猫立克次氏体，并确定了该病原体在墨西哥中部的新采集地点。
