Vieira Lista María Carmen, Vicente Santiago María Belén, Soto-López Julio David, García-Martín Joaquina María, Álamo-Sanz Rufino, Belhassen-García Moncef, Muro Antonio
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Group (e-INTRO), Biomedical Research Institute of Salamanca-Research Centre for Tropical Diseases (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain.
Consejería de Sanidad Junta Castilla y León, 47007 Valladolid, Spain.
Insects. 2024 Jul 27;15(8):571. doi: 10.3390/insects15080571.
Tick-borne rickettsioses (TBRs) are distributed worldwide and are recognized as important emerging vector-borne zoonotic diseases in Europe. The aim of this study was to identify tick-associated among ticks removed from humans, and to track how tick populations and their associated pathogens have changed over the years. For this purpose, we conducted a tick surveillance study in northwestern Spain between 2018 and 2022. Ticks were morphologically identified and analyzed for the presence of rickettsial pathogens through the amplification of the citrate synthase () and the outer membrane protein A () genes. PCR products were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analyses. We collected 7397 ticks, with being the species most frequently isolated. Based on the PCR results, DNA was detected in 1177 (15.91%) ticks, and 10 members of were identified: , subsp. , subsp. , , , subsp. , , , R. barbariae, and R. rioja. Some of these have gone previously undetected in the study region. There is clear geographic and seasonal expansion not only of tick populations, but also of the associated . The comparison of our data with those obtained years ago provides a clear idea of how the spatiotemporal distributions of ticks and their associated Rickettsiae have changed over the years.
蜱传立克次体病（TBRs）在全球范围内均有分布，并且在欧洲被公认为是重要的新兴媒介传播人兽共患病。本研究的目的是在从人体采集的蜱虫中鉴定与蜱相关的病原体，并追踪蜱虫种群及其相关病原体多年来的变化情况。为此，我们于2018年至2022年期间在西班牙西北部开展了一项蜱虫监测研究。通过形态学鉴定蜱虫，并通过扩增柠檬酸合酶（gltA）和外膜蛋白A（ompA）基因来分析是否存在立克次体病原体。对PCR产物进行测序并进行系统发育分析。我们共采集了7397只蜱虫，其中Ixodes ricinus是最常分离出的物种。根据PCR结果，在1177只（15.91%）蜱虫中检测到了立克次体DNA，并鉴定出了10种立克次体：Rickettsia helvetica、R. monacensis subsp. monacensis、R. monacensis subsp. valaisiana、R. massiliae、R. raoultii、R. slovaca subsp. slovaca、R. slovaca subsp. strasburgeri、R. sibirica、R. barbariae和R. rioja。其中一些立克次体此前在该研究区域未被发现。不仅蜱虫种群，而且相关的立克次体都有明显的地理和季节扩张。将我们的数据与多年前获得的数据进行比较，能清楚地了解蜱虫及其相关立克次体的时空分布多年来是如何变化的。
