Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis Infection, Austria

al. Poultry drinking water for avian infl uenza surveillance. Emerg Infect Dis. infl uenza virus in aquatic habitats: what do we need to learn? Avian Dis. 8. World Health Organization. Recommendations and laboratory procedures for detection of avian infl uenza A(H5N1) virus in specimens from suspected human cases. To the Editor: Rickettsia raoultii is an obligate intracellular gram-negative bacterium belonging to the spotted fever group (SFG) of the genus Rickettsia. Genotypes RpA4, DnS14, and DnS28, originally isolated from ticks from Russia in 1999 (1), were designated as Rickettsia raoultii sp. nov. on the basis of phylogenetic analysis (2). R. raoultii has been found mainly in Dermacentor spp. ticks in several countries in Europe (3). It was detected in a Dermacentor marginatus tick from the scalp of a patient with tick-borne lymphadenitis in France (2), which suggests that it might be a zoonotic pathogen. We determined the prevalence of R. raoultii–like bacteria in Dermacentor spp. in highland regions in Tibet. Ticks from sheep (Ovis aries) near Namuco Lake (a popular tourist destination 4,718 m above sea level) were collected and identifi ed morphologically as D. everestianus and D. niveus ticks (4). Genomic DNA was extracted from individual specimens by using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). All DNA samples were amplifi ed by using PCRs specifi c for the citrate synthase (gltA, 770 bp) gene (5) and the outer membrane protein A (ompA, 629 bp) gene (6). Some samples were amplifi ed by using a PCR specifi c for the ompB (2,479 bp) gene (7). Randomly selected amplicons for gltA (n = 27), ompA (n = 31), and ompB (n = 7) were cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Shanghai, China) and subjected to bidirectional sequencing (Sangon Biotech, Shanghai, China). Sequences obtained were deposited in GenBank under accession nos. JQ792101– JQ792105, JQ792107, and JQ792108– JQ792166. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted for sequences we identifi ed and sequences of recognized SFG rickettsial species available in Genbank by using the MegAlign program (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, WI, USA) and MEGA 4.0 (8). Of 874 tick specimens, 86 were D. everestianus ticks (13 male and 73 female), and 788 were D. niveus ticks (133 male and 655 female). Samples positive for gltA and ompA were considered SFG rickettsial species. Using this criterion, we found that 739 tick specimens (84.6%) were positive for Rickettsia spp. Of 86 D. everestianus ticks, 85 (98.8%) were positive …