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ARS Home » Plains Area » Kerrville, Texas » Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory » LAPRU » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #358418
Title: Molecular detection of rickettsial tick-borne agents in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus yucatanensis), mazama deer (Mazama temama), and the ticks they host in Yucatan, Mexico

Author
item OJEDA, MELINA - Autonomous University Of Yucatan
item RODRIGUEZ-VIVAS, ROGER IVAN - Autonomous University Of Yucatan
item ESTEVE-GASSENT, MARIA - Texas A&M University
item Perez De Leon, Adalberto - Beto
item MODARELLI, JOSEPH - Texas A&M University
item SANDRA, VILLEGAS - Autonomous University Of Yucatan

Submitted to: Ticks and Tick Borne Diseases
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/26/2018
Publication Date: 2/1/2019
Citation: Ojeda, M., Rodriguez-Vivas, R., Esteve-Gassent, M., Perez De Leon, A.A., Modarelli, J., Sandra, V. 2019. Molecular detection of rickettsial tick-borne agents in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus yucatanensis), mazama deer (Mazama temama), and the ticks they host in Yucatan, Mexico. Ticks and Tick Borne Diseases. 10(2):365-370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.11.018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.11.018

Interpretive Summary: White-tailed deer (WTD), mazama deer (MD), and the ticks they host were sampled in Yucatan, Mexico to run a molecular survey for tick-borne rickettsial microbes, which can cause disease in animals and humans. These microbes were detected in some of the WTD and MD samples during the survey. Ticks belonging to the genus Amblyomma collected from these deer were infected with some of the rickettsial microbes. This situation provides a potential pathway for the transmission of such microbes to men and women because the Amblyomma ticks collected during this study can also bite humans. These findings highlight the need to apply the One Health approach, meaning the multidisciplinary and collaborative effort to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment, to study ticks and tick-borne diseases. This science-based information could be used by state public health programs to assess the risk for exposure to tick-borne rickettsial microbes that can cause disease among humans in Yucatan, Mexico.

Technical Abstract: Twenty-five white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus yucatanensis) WTD, 4 mazama deer (Mazama temama) MD, and the ticks they host in Yucatan, Mexico were sampled to run a molecular survey for tick-borne rickettsial agents. The prevalence of rickettsial agents was 20% in WTD (5/25) and 50% in MD (2/4). When sequencing the nested PCR products, E. chaffeensis, A. phagocytophilum and A. odocoilei, were identified as single infection or coinfecting cervids. None of the cervid samples were positive for E. ewingii, E. canis, nor Rickettsia spp. Overall, 355 individual ticks were collected. Species identified based on adult stages infesting cervids included Amblyomma mixtum, A. parvum, A. cf. oblongoguttatum, Ixodes affinis, Rhipicephalus microplus, R. sanguineus sensu lato, and Haemaphysalis juxtakochi. Rhipicephalus microplus was the tick species most commonly found infesting cervids with a frequency of 28.4%, and intensity of 25.2 ticks per animal. A pool of Amblyomma cf. oblongoguttatum adults and one of Amblyomma spp. nymphs were positive for E. canis and E. chaffeensis, respectively. None of the studied tick pools were positive for E. ewingii, A. phagocytophilum, nor R. rickettsii. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report the prevalence of rickettsial agents in WTD and MD in Mexico. Our molecular study is the first to report the detection of E. chaffeensis, A. phagocytophilum, and A. odocoilei in MD in Mexico. The molecular detection of E. chaffeensis, A. phagocytophilum, and A. odocoilei in deer, and E. chaffeensis in Amblyomma spp. nymphs reported here raises the concern for the risk of human exposure to tick-borne rickettsial pathogens. Our findings highlight the need to apply the “One Health” approach to study ticks and tick-borne diseases. This science-based information could be used by state public-health programs to assess the risk for exposure to tick-borne Anaplasmataceae in Yucatan, Mexico.