Prevalence of tick-borne Rickettsia and Ehrlichia in Ixodes persulcatus and Ixodes ovatus in Tokachi district, Eastern Hokkaido, Japan.

DNA from 111 ticks collected by flagging in Tokachi district, Eastern Hokkaido, Japan were examined for infection with Rickettsia and Ehrlichia, by PCR and sequencing methodology. For Rickettsia, analysis of the partial sequence of the citrate synthase gene was successfully performed on 11 DNA samples from I. persulcatus, and 7 of them showed 99.