Seasonal pattern of questing ticks and prevalence of pathogenic Rickettsia and Anaplasmataceae in Khao Yai national park, Thailand.

Background: Tick-borne diseases (TBD) are considered neglected diseases in Thailand with disease burden likely underestimated. To assess risk for emerging TBD in Thailand, the seasonality of questing tick and pathogen prevalence were studied in Khao Yai National Park, a top tourist destination.

Methods: During 2019, questing ticks around tourist attractions were systematically collected bimonthly and analyzed for Rickettsia and Anaplasmataceae bacterial species by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing.

The Bacterial Community in Questing Ticks From Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

Ticks are known vectors for a variety of pathogens including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. In this study, bacterial communities were investigated in active life stages of three tick genera (, and ) collected from Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. Four hundred and thirty-three questing ticks were selected for pathogen detection individually using real-time PCR assays, and 58 of these were subjected to further metagenomics analysis.