New Rickettsia species in soft ticks Ornithodoros hasei collected from bats in French Guiana.

In French Guiana, located on the northeastern coast of South America, bats of different species are very numerous. The infection of bats and their ticks with zoonotic bacteria, especially Rickettsia species, is so far unknown. In order to improve knowledge of these zoonotic pathogens in this French overseas department, the presence and diversity of tick-borne bacteria was investigated with molecular tools in bat ticks.

Tropheryma whipplei as a Cause of Epidemic Fever, Senegal, 2010-2012.

The bacterium Tropheryma whipplei, which causes Whipple disease in humans, is commonly detected in the feces of persons in Africa. It is also associated with acute infections. We investigated the role of T.

Rickettsia massiliae infection and SENLAT syndrome in Romania.

The purpose of this prospective study is to describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of rickettsioses in Romania, where only Rickettsia conorii is known by clinicians but new Rickettsia species have been identified recently in ticks. A total of eight patients, including a nine-year-old child, were included between June 2011 and June 2012, in the Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Bucharest, Romania. Seven cases presented during summer months and one in spring.

Bacterial agents in 248 ticks removed from people from 2002 to 2013.

A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the tick species removed from people and to detect tick-infecting bacteria in the specimens collected over the past 10 years at the reference center for rickettsioses, Marseille, France. A total of 248 ticks were removed from 200 people, including Dermacentor (73), Rhipicephalus (67), Ixodes (60), Amblyomma (8), Argas (3), Hyalomma (1), and Haemaphysalis (1) species. Bacterial DNA was detected in 101 ticks: Rickettsia slovaca (34%) and Rickettsia raoultii (23%) were detected in Dermacentor ticks; Rickettsia conorii (16%) and Rickettsia massiliae (18%) were found in Rhipicephalus ticks; and Anaplasma phagocytophylum (5%), Borrelia spp.