Detection of rickettsia species in ectoparasites of wild mammals

Abstract

Rickettsia are small, intercellular, gram-negative bacteria, which cause infectious diseases – rickettsioses in many countries around the world. These patogens are transmitted to vertebrates, including humans by a variety of arthropod vectors such as ticks, fleas and mites. The aim of this study was to identify Rickettsia spp. infection in ectoparasites of wild mammals. In total 118 ectoparasites were collected (110 ticks and 8 fleas) from wild mammals (European hare, raccoon dog, European polecat, European badger and red fox). Rickettsia DNA was found in 14.4% (17/118) of ectoparasites. Ectoparasites collected from European polecat were not infected with Rickettsia spp. Rickettsia DNA were found in 23.1% (3/13) Dermocentor reticulatus ticks and 13.4% (13/97) Ixodes ricinus ticks, as well in 12.5% (1/8) fleas of Chaetopsylla globiceps species. Sequence analysis of the 17 kDa protein coding gene fragment sequences showed that sequences are similar to R. helvetica and R. raoultii species.