A total of 489 small mammals belonging to seven species captured in Lithuania during 2013-2014 were investigated for Rickettsia pathogens. The overall prevalence of Rickettsia spp. was 27.6%, with a higher prevalence detected in Micromys minutus (45.9%), followed by Apodemus flavicollis (29.4%), Sorex araneus (25%) and Myodes glareolus (23.7%). Sequence analysis of the gltA gene and the 17 kDa ...

The typical clinical presentation of several spotted fever group Rickettsia infections includes eschars. Clinical diagnosis of the condition is usually made by analysis of blood samples. We describe a more sensitive, noninvasive means of obtaining a sample for diagnosis by using an eschar swab specimen from patients infected with Rickettsia parkeri.

A novel Rickettsia species of undetermined pathogenicity was detected in Ixodes scapularis. DNA sequencing showed the highest nucleotide sequence similarities with R. australis for the 17 kDa gene, R. helvetica for gltA, and R. montana for rompA. The new organism, provisionally designated as genotype Cooleyi, is highly divergent in three conserved genes from recognized Rickettsia species.

To determine the cause of spotted fever cases in the southern United States, we screened Gulf Coast ticks (Amblyomma maculatum) collected in Arkansas for rickettsiae. Of the screened ticks, 30% had PCR amplicons consistent with Rickettsia parkeri or Candidatus Rickettsia amblyommii.

Geographic distribution of Rickettsia parkeri in its US tick vector, Amblyomma maculatum, was evaluated by PCR. R. parkeri was detected in ticks from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, which suggests that A. maculatum may be responsible for additional cases of R. parkeri rickettsiosis throughout much of its US range.

Tick cell lines play an important role in research on ticks and tick-borne pathogenic and symbiotic microorganisms. In an attempt to derive continuous Dermacentor reticulatus cell lines, embryo-derived primary cell cultures were set up from eggs laid by field ticks originally collected as unfed adults in The Netherlands and maintained for up to 16 months. After several months, it became evident...

BACKGROUND Tick-borne rickettsioses are caused by obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae. Although Spotted Fever is prevalent in the Middle East, no reports for the presence of tick-borne pathogens are available or any studies on the epidemiology of this disease in the West Bank. We aimed to identify the circulating hard tick vectors and genetical...

Rickettsial infection in feral raccoons (Procyon lotor) in Hokkaido, Japan was analyzed by molecular methods. Genus-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis based on the Rickettsia citrate synthase (gltA) gene showed that 13 of 699 raccoons (1.9%) examined were positive for Rickettsia. Twelve of the 13 partial gltA sequence amplicons were successfully analyzed. The nucleotide se...

The aim of the study was to characterize mono- and mixed infection with causative agents vector-borne infections in Dermacentor reticulatus ticks inhabiting one anthropourgic foci Tomsk Region. Materials methods . D. were collected from vegetation “on flag” forest park zones southern part August September, 2020–2021. To isolate nucleic acids homogenates mites subsequent PCR diagnostics, kits Re...