Infection Rates and Characterisation of (Rickettsiaceae) Detected in Species from Southern Africa.

Tick-borne rickettsioses are considered among the oldest known vector-borne zoonotic diseases. Among the rickettsiae, is the most reported and important in Africa, as it is the aetiological agent of African tick bite fever (ATBF). Studies describing the prevalence of .

Intra- and interspecific variation of Amblyomma ticks from southern Africa.

Background: Amblyomma spp. ticks, known for their long mouthparts, bright ornate appearance and aggressive hunting behaviour, are vectors of a number of important pathogens. In southern Africa, 17 Amblyomma spp.

Establishment and partial characterisation of a new cell line derived from adult tissues of the tsetse fly Glossina morsitans morsitans.

Background: Insect cell lines play a vital role in many aspects of research on disease vectors and agricultural pests. The tsetse fly Glossina morsitans morsitans is an important vector of salivarian trypanosomes in sub-Saharan Africa and, as such, is a major constraint on human health and agricultural development in the region.

Methods: Here, we report establishment and partial characterisation of a cell line, GMA/LULS61, derived from tissues of adult female G.

Microbiome and mitogenomics of the chigger mite Pentidionis agamae: potential role as an Orientia vector and associations with divergent clades of Wolbachia and Borrelia.

Background: Trombiculid mites are globally distributed, highly diverse arachnids that largely lack molecular resources such as whole mitogenomes for the elucidation of taxonomic relationships. Trombiculid larvae (chiggers) parasitise vertebrates and can transmit bacteria (Orientia spp.) responsible for scrub typhus, a zoonotic febrile illness.

Multi-Locus Sequence Analysis Indicates Potential Cryptic Speciation in the Chigger Mite (Hatori, 1920) Parasitising Birds in Asia.

is widely distributed in Asia, preferentially parasitising birds, and heavy infestations have clinical impacts on domestic fowl. In common with other trombiculid mites, the genetic diversity and potential variation in host preferences or pathology induced by are poorly understood. This study aimed to unravel the geographical variation and population structure of collected from galliform birds in Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand by inference from concatenated mitochondrial-encoded cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and nuclear-encoded internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and 18S ribosomal DNA gene sequences, including a comparison with previously published data from southeastern China.

Predicting the distribution of Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus in Europe: a comparison of climate niche modelling approaches.

Background: The ticks Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus are two of the most important vectors in Europe. Climate niche modelling has been used in many studies to attempt to explain their distribution and to predict changes under a range of climate change scenarios. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of different climate niche modelling approaches to explain the known distribution of I.

Sympatry of Amblyomma eburneum and Amblyomma variegatum on African buffaloes and prevalence of pathogens in ticks.

The Amblyomma genus is represented on the African continent by 24 species, out of which 17 are known to occur in different ecological niches of southern Africa. Amblyomma, known for their aggressive hunting behaviour and aptitude as pathogen vectors, are of main concern to travellers, mainly in rural and conservation areas of Africa. In this study, we highlight the overlapping distribution of Amblyomma eburneum and Amblyomma variegatum found on African buffaloes (Syncerus caffer) at Coutada 11, Central Mozambique.

The evolution of intramitochondriality in Midichloria bacteria.

Midichloria spp. are intracellular bacterial symbionts of ticks. Representatives of this genus colonise mitochondria in the cells of their hosts.

The chigger microbiome: big questions in a tiny world.

'Chiggers' (trombiculid mite larvae) are best known as vectors of rickettsial pathogens, Orientia spp., which cause a zoonosis, scrub typhus. However, several other pathogens (e.

springs eternal: symbiosis in Collembola is associated with host ecology.

are endosymbiotic alpha-proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and nematode hosts with diverse interactions, from reproductive parasites to obligate mutualists. Their taxonomy is defined by lineages called supergroups (labelled by letters of the alphabet), while their evolutionary history is complex, with multiple horizontal transfers and secondary losses. One of the least recently derived, supergroup E, infects springtails (Collembola), widely distributed hexapods, with sexual and/or parthenogenetic populations depending on species.

Distribution of ticks in the Western Palearctic: an updated systematic review (2015-2021).

Background: The distributions of ticks and tick-borne pathogens are thought to have changed rapidly over the last two decades, with their ranges expanding into new regions. This expansion has been driven by a range of environmental and socio-economic factors, including climate change. Spatial modelling is being increasingly used to track the current and future distributions of ticks and tick-borne pathogens and to assess the associated disease risk.

Molecular Surveillance for Vector-Borne Bacteria in Rodents and Tree Shrews of Peninsular Malaysia Oil Palm Plantations.

Many human clinical cases attributed to vector-borne pathogens are underreported in Malaysia, especially in rural localities where healthcare infrastructures are lacking. Here, 217 small mammals, consisting of rodents and tree shrews, were trapped in oil palm plantations in the Peninsular Malaysia states of Johor and Perak. Species identification was performed using morphological and DNA barcoding analyses, and 203 small mammals were included in the detection of selected vector-borne bacteria.

Habitat and Season Drive Chigger Mite Diversity and Abundance on Small Mammals in Peninsular Malaysia.

Chigger mites are vectors of the bacterial disease scrub typhus, caused by spp. The bacterium is vertically transmitted in the vector and horizontally transmitted to terrestrial vertebrates (primarily wild small mammals), with humans as incidental hosts. Previous studies have shown that the size of the chigger populations is correlated with the density of small mammals in scrub typhus-endemic regions.

Symbionts on the Brain: How Is Strictly Corralled in Some Neotropical spp.

is a heritable alphaproteobacterial symbiont of arthropods and nematodes, famous for its repertoire of host manipulations, including cytoplasmic incompatibility. To be vertically transmitted, must efficiently colonize the female germ line, although somatic tissues outside the gonads are also infected. In spp.

Co-Administration of Adjuvanted Recombinant -103 and -RAL-2 Vaccines Confer Protection against Natural Challenge in A Bovine Infection Model of Human Onchocerciasis.

Onchocerciasis (river blindness), caused by the filarial nematode , is a neglected tropical disease mainly of sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, an estimated 20.9 million individuals live with infection and a further 205 million are at risk of disease.

New Cell Lines Derived from European Tick Species.

Tick cell lines are important tools for research on ticks and the pathogens they transmit. Here, we report the establishment of ten new cell lines from European ticks of the genera , , , and originating from Germany and Spain. For each cell line, the method used to generate the primary culture, a morphological description of the cells and species confirmation by sequencing of the partial 16S rRNA gene are presented.

Molecular evidence of rat bocavirus among rodents in Peninsular Malaysia.

Rat bocavirus (RBoV) and rodent bocavirus (RoBoV) have previously been detected in Rattus norvegicus; however, these viruses have not been reported in rodent populations in Malaysia. We investigated the presence of RBoV and RoBoV in archived rodent specimens. DNA barcoding of the rodent cytochrome c oxidase gene identified five different species: Rattus tanezumi R3 mitotype, Rattus tiomanicus, Rattus exulans, Rattus argentiventer, and Rattus tanezumi sensu stricto.

Onchocerca lupi in imported dogs in the UK: implications for animal and public health.

Background: Onchocerca lupi is a filarial nematode affecting dogs, and occasionally cats and humans, in continental Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the USA. Adult worms are usually found in periocular nodules and enucleation is sometimes required if the infection fails to respond to other treatment options.

Case Presentation: Here, we report the presence of O.

A dual endosymbiosis supports nutritional adaptation to hematophagy in the invasive tick .

Many animals are dependent on microbial partners that provide essential nutrients lacking from their diet. Ticks, whose diet consists exclusively on vertebrate blood, rely on maternally inherited bacterial symbionts to supply B vitamins. While previously studied tick species consistently harbor a single lineage of those nutritional symbionts, we evidence here that the invasive tick harbors a unique dual-partner nutritional system between an ancestral symbiont, , and a more recently acquired symbiont, .

Isolation in Natural Host Cell Lines of Strains Pip from the Mosquito and Pap from the Sand Fly .

Endosymbiotic intracellular bacteria of the genus are harboured by many species of invertebrates. They display a wide range of developmental, metabolic and nutritional interactions with their hosts and may impact the transmission of arboviruses and protozoan parasites. have occasionally been isolated during insect cell line generation.

Automatic barcode gap discovery reveals diverse clades of Rhipicephalus spp. and Haemaphysalis spp. ticks from small mammals in 'Asir, Saudi Arabia.

Background: The ixodid tick genera Rhipicephalus and Haemaphysalis contain several species of medical and/or veterinary importance, but their diversity in some regions of the world remains under-explored. For instance, very few modern studies have been performed on the taxonomy of these genera on the Arabian Peninsula.

Methods: In this study, we trapped small mammals in the 'Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia and collected tick specimens for morphological examination and molecular barcoding, targeting three mitochondrial loci: cox1, 16S rRNA and 12S rRNA.