Prevalence of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. in Ticks Collected from Korean Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus).
- Author:
Jun Gu KANG
1
;
Sungjin KO
;
Heung Chul KIM
;
Sung Tae CHONG
;
Terry A KLEIN
;
Jeong Byoung CHAE
;
Yong Sun JO
;
Kyoung Seong CHOI
;
Do Hyeon YU
;
Bae Keun PARK
;
Jinho PARK
;
Joon Seok CHAE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Brief Communication ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
- Keywords: Anaplasma spp.; Bartonella spp.; tick; Korean water deer
- MeSH: Anaplasma/genetics/*physiology; Animals; Arachnid Vectors/microbiology; Bartonella/genetics/*physiology; Chaperonin 60/genetics; Deer/parasitology; Disease Reservoirs/veterinary; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics; Republic of Korea/epidemiology; Ticks/*microbiology
- From:The Korean Journal of Parasitology 2016;54(1):87-91
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Deer serve as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens that impact on medical and veterinary health worldwide. In the Republic of Korea, the population of Korean water deer (KWD, Hydropotes inermis argyropus) has greatly increased from 1982 to 2011, in part, as a result of reforestation programs established following the Korean War when much of the land was barren of trees. Eighty seven Haemaphysalis flava, 228 Haemaphysalis longicornis, 8 Ixodes nipponensis, and 40 Ixodes persulcatus (21 larvae, 114 nymphs, and 228 adults) were collected from 27 out of 70 KWD. A total of 89/363 ticks (266 pools, 24.5% minimum infection rate) and 5 (1.4%) fed ticks were positive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum using nested PCR targeting the 16S rRNA and groEL genes, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 88/89 (98.9%) of positive samples for A. phagocytophilum corresponded to previously described gene sequences from KWD spleen tissues. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 20/363 (5.5%) of the ticks were positive for A. bovis and were identical to previously reported sequences. Using the ITS specific nested PCR, 11/363 (3.0%) of the ticks were positive for Bartonella spp. This is the first report of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. detected in ticks collected from KWD, suggesting that ticks are vectors of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. between reservoir hosts in natural surroundings.
