Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species.
BACKGROUND:Scrub typhus is an emerging vector-borne zoonosis, caused by Orientia spp. and transmitted by larvae of trombiculid mites, called chiggers. It mainly occurs within a region of the Asia-Pacific called the tsutsugamushi triangle, where rodents are known as the most relevant hosts for the tr...
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2020
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/article/aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 2023-05-15T15:16:01+02:00 Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. Gerardo Acosta-Jamett Constanza Martínez-Valdebenito Esperanza Beltrami María Carolina Silva-de La Fuente Ju Jiang Allen L Richards Thomas Weitzel Katia Abarca 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/article/aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/article/aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 1, p e0007619 (2020) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 2022-12-31T09:15:14Z BACKGROUND:Scrub typhus is an emerging vector-borne zoonosis, caused by Orientia spp. and transmitted by larvae of trombiculid mites, called chiggers. It mainly occurs within a region of the Asia-Pacific called the tsutsugamushi triangle, where rodents are known as the most relevant hosts for the trombiculid vector. However, the reservoir(s) and vector(s) of the scrub typhus outside Asia-Pacific are unknown. The disease has recently been discovered on and is considered endemic for Chiloé Island in southern Chile. The aim of the present work was to detect and determine the prevalence of chiggers on different rodent species captured in probable sites for the transmission of orientiae responsible for scrub typhus on Chiloé Island in southern Chile and to molecularly examine collected chiggers for the presence of Orientia DNA. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:During the austral summer 2018, rodents were live-trapped in six sites and examined for chigger infestation. All study sites were rural areas on Chiloé Island, previously identified as probable localities where human cases acquired the scrub typhus. During a total of 4,713 trap-nights, 244 rodents of seven species were captured: the most abundant was Abrothrix olivacea. Chiggers were detected on all seven rodent species with a 55% prevalence rate. Chiggers showed low host specificity and varied according to site specific host abundance. Three genera of trombiculids were identified. Herpetacarus was the most abundant genus (93%), prevalent in five of the six sites. Infestation rates showed site specific differences, which were statistically significant using a GLM model with binomial errors. Molecular analyses proved that 21 of 133 (15.8%) mite pools were positive for Orientia species, all of them belonged to the genus Herpetacarus. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study firstly reports the presence of different rodent-associated chigger mites positive for Orientia sp., in a region endemic for scrub typhus in southern Chile. Herpetacarus and two other genera of mites ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Mite Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Austral Pacific Chiloé ENVELOPE(-63.983,-63.983,-65.517,-65.517) PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 14 1 e0007619 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Gerardo Acosta-Jamett Constanza Martínez-Valdebenito Esperanza Beltrami María Carolina Silva-de La Fuente Ju Jiang Allen L Richards Thomas Weitzel Katia Abarca Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND:Scrub typhus is an emerging vector-borne zoonosis, caused by Orientia spp. and transmitted by larvae of trombiculid mites, called chiggers. It mainly occurs within a region of the Asia-Pacific called the tsutsugamushi triangle, where rodents are known as the most relevant hosts for the trombiculid vector. However, the reservoir(s) and vector(s) of the scrub typhus outside Asia-Pacific are unknown. The disease has recently been discovered on and is considered endemic for Chiloé Island in southern Chile. The aim of the present work was to detect and determine the prevalence of chiggers on different rodent species captured in probable sites for the transmission of orientiae responsible for scrub typhus on Chiloé Island in southern Chile and to molecularly examine collected chiggers for the presence of Orientia DNA. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:During the austral summer 2018, rodents were live-trapped in six sites and examined for chigger infestation. All study sites were rural areas on Chiloé Island, previously identified as probable localities where human cases acquired the scrub typhus. During a total of 4,713 trap-nights, 244 rodents of seven species were captured: the most abundant was Abrothrix olivacea. Chiggers were detected on all seven rodent species with a 55% prevalence rate. Chiggers showed low host specificity and varied according to site specific host abundance. Three genera of trombiculids were identified. Herpetacarus was the most abundant genus (93%), prevalent in five of the six sites. Infestation rates showed site specific differences, which were statistically significant using a GLM model with binomial errors. Molecular analyses proved that 21 of 133 (15.8%) mite pools were positive for Orientia species, all of them belonged to the genus Herpetacarus. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study firstly reports the presence of different rodent-associated chigger mites positive for Orientia sp., in a region endemic for scrub typhus in southern Chile. Herpetacarus and two other genera of mites ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gerardo Acosta-Jamett Constanza Martínez-Valdebenito Esperanza Beltrami María Carolina Silva-de La Fuente Ju Jiang Allen L Richards Thomas Weitzel Katia Abarca |
author_facet |
Gerardo Acosta-Jamett Constanza Martínez-Valdebenito Esperanza Beltrami María Carolina Silva-de La Fuente Ju Jiang Allen L Richards Thomas Weitzel Katia Abarca |
author_sort |
Gerardo Acosta-Jamett |
title |
Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
title_short |
Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
title_full |
Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
title_fullStr |
Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identification of trombiculid mites (Acari: Trombiculidae) on rodents from Chiloé Island and molecular evidence of infection with Orientia species. |
title_sort |
identification of trombiculid mites (acari: trombiculidae) on rodents from chiloé island and molecular evidence of infection with orientia species. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/article/aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.983,-63.983,-65.517,-65.517) |
geographic |
Arctic Austral Pacific Chiloé |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Austral Pacific Chiloé |
genre |
Arctic Mite |
genre_facet |
Arctic Mite |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 1, p e0007619 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 https://doaj.org/article/aed122cd2f79467da76ff6a463d04185 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007619 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
e0007619 |
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1766346336413679616 |