Oundo Joseph Wang'ang'a, Kalayou Shewit, Bosch Quirine Ten, Villinger Jandouwe, Koenraadt Constantianus J M, Masiga Daniel
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), P.O. Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya; Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 338 6700AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), P.O. Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2024 Jan;15(1):102266. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2023.102266. Epub 2023 Oct 9.
Ticks and the microbes they transmit have emerged in sub-Saharan Africa as a major threat to veterinary and public health. Although progress has been made in detecting and identifying tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) across vast agroecologies of Kenya, comprehensive information on tick species infesting cattle and their associated pathogens in coastal Kenya needs to be updated and expanded. Ticks infesting extensively grazed zebu cattle in 14 villages were sampled and identified based on morphology and molecular methods and tested for the presence of bacterial and protozoan TBPs using PCR with high-resolution melting analysis and gene sequencing. In total, 3,213 adult ticks were collected and identified as Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (15.8%), R. evertsi (12.8%), R. microplus (11.3%), R. pulchellus (0.1%), Amblyomma gemma (24.1%), A. variegatum (35.1%), Hyalomma rufipes (0.6%), and H. albiparmatum (0.2%). Ticks were infected with Rickettsia africae, Ehrlichia ruminantium, E. minasensis, Theileria velifera and T. parva. Coxiella sp. endosymbionts were detected in the Rhipicephalus and Amblyomma ticks. Co-infections with two and three different pathogens were identified in 6.9% (n = 95/1382) and 0.1% (n = 2/1382) of single tick samples, respectively, with the most common co-infection being R. africae and E. ruminantium (7.2%, CI: 4.6 - 10.6). All samples were negative for Coxiella burnetii, Anaplasma spp. and Babesia spp. Our study provides an overview of tick and tick-borne microbial diversities in coastal Kenya.
蜱虫及其传播的微生物已在撒哈拉以南非洲地区出现，成为对兽医和公共卫生的重大威胁。尽管在肯尼亚广大农业生态区域检测和鉴定蜱传病原体（TBP）方面已取得进展，但关于肯尼亚沿海地区寄生在牛身上的蜱虫种类及其相关病原体的全面信息仍需更新和扩充。对在14个村庄广泛放牧的瘤牛身上寄生的蜱虫进行了采样，并根据形态学和分子方法进行鉴定，使用高分辨率熔解分析PCR和基因测序检测细菌和原生动物TBP的存在。总共收集了3213只成年蜱虫，鉴定为微小扇头蜱（15.8%）、埃氏扇头蜱（12.8%）、微小牛蜱（11.3%）、美丽扇头蜱（0.1%）、宝石硬蜱（24.1%）、变异革蜱（35.1%）、红棕璃眼蜱（0.6%）和白纹璃眼蜱（0.2%）。蜱虫感染了非洲立克次体、反刍兽埃立克体、米纳斯埃立克体、维氏泰勒虫和牛泰勒虫。在扇头蜱属和硬蜱属蜱虫中检测到柯克斯体属内共生菌。在单个蜱虫样本中，分别有6.9%（n = 95/1382）和0.1%（n = 2/1382）被鉴定为感染了两种和三种不同病原体，最常见的混合感染是非洲立克次体和反刍兽埃立克体（7.2%，置信区间：4.6 - 10.6）。所有样本对贝氏柯克斯体、无形体属和巴贝斯虫属均呈阴性。我们的研究概述了肯尼亚沿海地区蜱虫及蜱传微生物的多样性。
