Detection of tick-borne bacteria and babesia with zoonotic potential in Argas (Carios) vespertilionis (Latreille, 1802) ticks from British bats

Ticks host a wide range of zoonotic pathogens and are a significant source of diseases that affect humans and livestock. However, little is known about the pathogens associated with bat ticks. We have collected ectoparasites from bat carcasses over a seven year period. Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) we...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Lv, Jizhou, Fernández de Marco, Maria del Mar, Goharriz, Hooman, Phipps, L. Paul, McElhinney, Lorraine M., Hernández-Triana, Luis M., Wu, Shaoqiang, Lin, Xiangmei, Fooks, Anthony R., Johnson, Nicholas
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Subjects:
Article
Argas
Pipistrellus pipistrellus
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789838/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29382871
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20138-1
Description
Summary:Ticks host a wide range of zoonotic pathogens and are a significant source of diseases that affect humans and livestock. However, little is known about the pathogens associated with bat ticks. We have collected ectoparasites from bat carcasses over a seven year period. Nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) were extracted from 296 ticks removed from bats and the species designation was confirmed in all ticks as Argas (Carios) vespertilionis. A subset of these samples (n = 120) were tested for the presence of zoonotic pathogens by molecular methods. Babesia species, Rickettsia spp., within the spotted fever group (SFG), and Ehrlichia spp. were detected in ticks removed from 26 bats submitted from 14 counties across England. The prevalence of Rickettsia spp. was found to be highest in Pipistrellus pipistrellus from southern England. This study suggests that the tick species that host B. venatorum may include the genus Argas in addition to the genus Ixodes. As A. vespertilionis has been reported to feed on humans, detection of B. venatorum and SFG Rickettsia spp. could present a risk of disease transmission in England. No evidence for the presence of flaviviruses or Issyk-Kul virus (nairovirus) was found in these tick samples.

Similar Items