Detection of Rickettsia conorii strains in Portuguese dogs (Canis familiaris).

This study reports a serological and molecular survey on the spotted fever group Rickettsia found in a group of 51 dogs with suspected tick-borne illness from the south of Portugal. Additionally, a prevalence of IgG antibodies to R. conorii was also estimated in a group of 400 healthy dogs from the same region.

The hard-tick fauna of mainland Portugal (Acari: Ixodidae): an update on geographical distribution and known associations with hosts and pathogens.

This work is an updated revision of the available information on Portuguese ixodid tick species. It includes data on tick biology, ecology, taxonomy and host/pathogen-associations. The current list of Portuguese ixodid ticks comprises twenty species: Dermacentor marginatus (Sulzer, 1776), Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794), Haemaphysalis hispanica Gil Collado, 1938, Haemaphysalis inermis Birula, 1895, Haemaphysalis punctata Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878, Hyalomma lusitanicum Koch, 1844, Hyalomma marginatum Koch, 1844, Ixodes acuminatus Neumann, 1901, Ixodes bivari Dias, 1990, Ixodes canisuga Johnston, 1849, Ixodes frontalis (Panzer, 1798), Ixodes hexagonus Leach, 1815, Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758), Ixodes simplex Neumann, 1906, Ixodes ventalloi Gil Collado, 1936, Ixodes vespertilionis Koch, 1844, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say, 1821), Rhipicephalus bursa Canestrini & Fanzago, 1878, Rhipicephalus pusillus Gil Collado, 1938, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806).

Serological and molecular survey of Anaplasma species infection in dogs with suspected tickborne disease in Portugal.

Fifty-five dogs with suspected tickborne disease were tested by immunofluorescence assay and PCR for Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection. Thirty (54.5 per cent) of the dogs were seropositive and five of them fulfilled the serological criteria for an active infection, with either seroconversion or a fourfold increase in antibody titres.

Detection of antibodies against Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Algerian mice (Mus spretus), Portugal.

The recent detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Portugal stimulated further research on the agent's enzootic cycle, which usually involves rodents. Thus a total 322 rodents belonging to five species, including 30 Apodemus sylvaticus (wood mouse), 65 Mus musculus (house mouse), 194 M. spretus (algerian mouse), 5 Rattus norvegicus (brown rat) and 28 R.

PCR-based survey of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Portuguese ticks (Acari: Ixodidae).

A total of two-thousand and six ticks, collected from 2002 to 2006 in areas belonging to seven districts of Mainland Portugal and also in Madeira Island, were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Active infections were detected exclusively in Ixodes species, including six questing I. ricinus nymphs from Madeira Island, one questing I.

Detection of Ehrlichia canis by polymerase chain reaction in dogs from Portugal.

Antibodies against Ehrlichia canis, the cause of canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, have been reported previously in clinically ill and stray dogs from Portugal. In this study, the 16S rRNA gene of E. canis was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 12/55 (22%) of dogs with suspected tick-borne disease in the Algarve region in Portugal.

Host- and microbe-related risk factors for and pathophysiology of fatal Rickettsia conorii infection in Portuguese patients.

Background: The pathophysiologic mechanisms that determine the severity of Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) and the host-related and microbe-related risk factors for a fatal outcome are incompletely understood.

Methods: This prospective study used univariate and multivariate analyses to determine the risk factors for a fatal outcome for 140 patients with Rickettsia conorii infection admitted to 13 Portuguese hospitals during 1994-2006 with documented identification of the rickettsial strain causing their infection.

Results: A total of 71 patients (51%) were infected with the Malish strain of Rickettsia conorii, and 69 (49%) were infected with the Israeli spotted fever (ISF) strain.

Rickettsia conorii Israeli tick typhus strain isolated from Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks in Portugal.

This report describes the first establishment of five isolates of R. conorii Israeli tick typhus (ITT) strain from Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks in different regions of Portugal. Ticks were collected on two separate expeditions that took place in Bragança, Montesinho Natural Park, and Portalegre City.

Intralesional expression of mRNA of interferon- gamma , tumor necrosis factor- alpha , interleukin-10, nitric oxide synthase, indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase, and RANTES is a major immune effector in Mediterranean spotted fever rickettsiosis.

Background: The mechanisms of immunity to Rickettsia conorii that have been elucidated in mouse models have not been evaluated in human tissues.

Methods: In this study, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the levels of expression of inflammatory and immune mediators in skin-biopsy samples collected from 23 untreated patients with Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF).

Results: In all 23 patients, the levels of intralesional expression of mRNA of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- alpha , interferon (IFN)- gamma , interleukin (IL)-10, RANTES, and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in limiting rickettsial growth by tryptophan degradation, were higher than those in control subjects; 6 of the 23 patients had high levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), a source of microbicidal nitric oxide.

Rickettsia sp. strain RpA4 detected in Portuguese Dermacentor marginatus ticks.

Dermacentor marginatus species is the common vector of Rickettsia slovaca. Recently, a new rickettsia genotype, RpA4, was detected in several Dermacentor sp. ticks in several countries of the former Soviet Union and in Spain.

Rickettsiae phylogeny: a multigenic approach.

The development of molecular taxonomic methods has provided a large amount of data in the reorganization of Rickettsiae taxonomy. Nevertheless, phylogenetic relationships among some groups and species delimitation remain unclear. To clarify rickettsial phylogeny, a multigenic approach was used for the first time for the genus Rickettsia, based on simultaneous analyses of eight loci: atpA, recA, virB4, dnaA, dnaK, rrl-rrf internal transcribed spacer, ompA and gltA.

Automated method based in VNTR analysis for Rickettsiae genotyping.

A genetic locus named Rc-65, which is 5' adjacent to gene dksA and 3' adjacent to xerC gene, has previously been demonstrated to contain a VNTR with high discriminatory power in several rickettsial strains and thus, potentially useful for genetically similar strains identification. In this work, we present an automated molecular identification method based on capillary electrophoresis separation of VNTRs amplicons. The resulting electropherograms were in agreement with the sequence data obtained in a previous work.

Boutonneuse fever and climate variability.

Researchers have long appreciated the role of climate in vector-borne diseases, including the resurgence of boutonneuse fever (BF). Portugal usually is classified as having temperate Mediterranean climate. In this new century, in analyzing the data from the Meteorology Institute, this pattern has changed and an accentuated variability in climate is being observed.

Ticks and tick-borne Rickettsiae surveillance in Montesinho Natural Park, Portugal.

This study constitutes the first contribution to the knowledge of tick dynamics and its implication in the epidemiology of rickettsial diseases in Montesinho Natural Park (MNP), Bragança district of Portugal. Of 76 ticks collected, 12 (15.8%) were Dermacentor (D.

Human exposure to Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Portugal.

A retrospective study to detect Anaplasma phagocytophilum antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) and Western blot (WB) assay was conducted in 367 potentially exposed patients from Portugal. The study included 26 patients with confirmed Lyme borreliosis (LB), 77 with suspected LB, 264 seronegative patients studied for possible tick-transmitted LB and boutonneuse fever (LB/BF) infection, and 96 healthy blood donors. Overall, patients with LB and suspected LB (n = 2 [7.

Molecular detection of Rickettsia felis, Rickettsia typhi and two genotypes closely related to Bartonella elizabethae.

A total of 56 fleas were collected from mice, rats, and one hedgehog in national parks of mainland Portugal and the Madeira Island. All fleas were tested for the presence of bacteria of the genera Rickettsia and Bartonella using PCR assays. In fleas from mainland Portugal, we detected Rickettsia felis in one Archaeopsylla erinacei maura flea and in one Ctenophtalmus sp.

[Ticks associated to infectious pathologies in Portugal].

Ticks are hematophagos arthropods that parasitize terrestrial vertebrates. They are world wide, living in almost all terrestrial regions. Although mainly associated to animals, there are several tick species that bite humans and transmit tick-borne agents causing important infectious disease.

Ticks parasitizing wild birds in Portugal: detection of Rickettsia aeschlimannii, R. helvetica and R. massiliae.

From January 2002 to December 2004, 152 ticks were collected from 40 wild birds recovered in Santo André Natural Reserve and Monsanto Forestal Park, Portugal mainland. Five ticks species were identified from 22 species of birds, and new host record were provided for some species. In addition, 32 (21%) ticks were screened by PCR to detect infections with agents belonging to order Rickettsiales: Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Rickettsia spp.

Rickettsia sibirica isolation from a patient and detection in ticks, Portugal.

We report the first isolation of Rickettsia sibirica (strain mongolotimonae) from the blood of a patient and detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the rickettsia in a Rhipicephalus pusillus tick collected from a dead mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in the Alentejo region, Portugal. We describe also the first PCR detection of a new Rickettsia strain that is related to R. sibirica.

The seroprevalence of human infection with Rickettsia slovaca, in an area of northern Spain.

An epidemiological survey was undertaken to explore human exposure to Rickettsia slovaca in two provinces of northern Spain. When IFAT were used to test 200 members of the general population for antibodies to rickettsiae of the spotted-fever group, six (3.3%) were found positive, presumably, since Dermacentor is one of the most common genera of human-biting tick in the study area, for antibodies to R.

The presence of eschars, but not greater severity, in Portuguese patients infected with Israeli spotted fever.

In Portugal, Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is caused by R. conorii Malish and Israeli spotted fever (ISF) strains. It has been suggested that the ISF strain isolated from patients with MSF causes different clinical manifestations compared to those caused by Malish strain, namely the absence of eschar and greater severity.

[Rickettsial diseases in Brazil and Portugal: occurrence, distribution and diagnosis].

The present study is an update review on the occurrence and diagnosis of rickettsial diseases in Brazil and Portugal, aiming at promoting their epidemiological surveillance in both countries. A literature review was carried out and unpublished data of laboratories and surveillance systems were presented. The results described the occurrence of rickettsial diseases and infections in Brazil and Portugal, including other new and still poorly understood rickettsial infections.