The Surveillance of Species in and Associated Ticks: The First Detection of in Egypt.

UNLABELLED

Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are emerging and re-emerging infections that have a worldwide impact on human and animal health. Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a severe zoonotic disease caused by the spirochete sensu lato (s.l.) transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks. is a spirochete that causes relapsing fever (RF) and is genetically related to s.l. However, there have been no reports of in Egypt, and the data on LB in camels is scarce. Thus, the present study was conducted to screen and genetically identify spp. and in Egyptian camels and associated ticks using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

METHODS

A total of 133 blood samples and 1596 adult hard ticks were collected from at Cairo and Giza slaughterhouses in Egypt. Tick species were identified by examining their morphology and sequencing the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 () gene. spp. was detected using nested PCR on the () gene, and positive samples were genotyped using rRNA and spp. genes specific for and respectively. The positive PCR products were sequenced and analyzed by phylogenetic tree.

RESULTS

Analysis of the gene sequence revealed that the adult ticks belonged to three genera; () (), () as well as 12 species, including and . spp. was found in 8.3% (11/133) of the camel blood samples and 1.3% (21/1596) of the ticks, respectively. Sequencing of the (-23S) gene found that , detected from and and which belongs to the RF group, was detected from one blood sample. and were discovered in the blood samples and tick species. Phylogenetic analysis of the gene showed that the in this study was of the Asian and European types.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the camels can be infected by Lyme borrelia and other bacteria species. This study also provides the first insight into the presence of DNA in camels and associated ticks in Egypt.