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Infection of Amblyomma ovale by Rickettsia sp. strain Atlantic rainforest, Colombia

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Abstract

Our goal was to understand rickettsial spotted fevers’ circulation in areas of previous outbreaks reported from 2006 to 2008 in Colombia. We herein present molecular identification and isolation of Rickettsia sp. Atlantic rainforest strain from Amblyomma ovale ticks, a strain shown to be pathogenic to humans. Infected ticks were found on dogs and a rodent in Antioquia and Córdoba Provinces. This is the first report of this rickettsia outside Brazil, which expands its known range considerably.

Introduction

Tobia fever was the first reported outbreak of a rickettsial disease in Colombia. Commonly known in North America as Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), the illness caused by Rickettsia rickettsii affected 20% of the population from the town of Tobia, province of Cundinamarca, Colombia, as described by Patino et al. (1937). After this historical event, RMSF remained epidemiologically silent until 2003 and 2004 when Hidalgo et al. (2007a) confirmed R. rickettsii as the cause of death of 2 patients. More recently, 3 additional outbreaks were documented in the provinces of Antioquia (2006 and 2008) and Córdoba (2007) (Acosta et al., 2006, Hidalgo et al., 2007b, Pacheco et al., 2008).

To better understand rickettsial spotted fevers in Colombia, we searched for rickettsiae in ticks from locations where the 2006–2008 outbreaks took place. We collected ticks from domestic and small wild mammals (rodents and opossums) and in the environment in the municipalities of Turbo, Necoclí (Antioquia), and Los Córdobas (Córdoba) during 12 months in 2010 and 2011. We herein report rickettsiae in Amblyomma ovale ticks found in a high numbers on dogs.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The study was conducted in 3 neighboring municipalities (Turbo and Necoclí from Antioquia province and Los Córdobas from Córdoba province), all of them located on the Colombian Atlantic coast. Turbo is at 8°8.272′ N, 76°33.009′ W, and 400 m above sea level (asl), Necoclí is at 8°32.892′ N, 76°34.429′ W, and 182 m asl, and Los Córdobas is at 8°50.195′ N, 76°20.252′ W, and 8 m asl. The climate is hot and humid in all the above municipalities, with an annual average temperature of 28 °C and relative

Results

All the findings in this report correspond to ticks from the species A. ovale, identified according to a previously published morphological key (Barros-Battesti et al., 2006, Martins et al., 2010). Table 1 shows the distribution of ticks found positive for rickettsia.

Of 93 adults ticks gathered in the study, 91 were collected from dogs (one male and one female were stored in isopropanol as a reference for the species). Two more were found on a donkey from Necoclí and in the vegetation of Los

Discussion

Rickettsia sp. strain Atlantic rainforest (also known as strain Bahia) was recently described as the etiological agent of a spotted fever rickettsiosis in 2 Brazilian patients that presented with fever, myalgia, rash, and eschar at the tick bite site. One of the patients had also lymphadenopathy and ulcers on the oral mucosa (Silva et al., 2011, Spolidorio et al., 2010). This novel rickettsial agent is closely related to Rickettsia parkeri, Rickettsia africae, and Rickettsia sibirica, which are

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the disclosure of this paper will not generate or constitute any conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank the community leaders and human health units in Las Changas, Alto de Mulatos, and Los Córdobas for their cooperation to obtain animals and vector samples. We thank Dr. Sergio Solari, professor of the Instituto de Biologia, and his students, Daisy Gomez, Edwin Osorio, and Laura Vargas, all from the Mastozoology group at the Universidad de Antioquia, for their assistance in identifying the rodents. We thank also the Universidad de Antioquia program “Sostenibilidad 2013/2014”. We are

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