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Volume 19, Number 2—February 2013
Letter

Rickettsiae in Ticks, Japan, 2007–2011

Gaowa1, Norio Ohashi1Comments to Author , Minami Aochi, Wuritu, Dongxing Wu, Yuko Yoshikawa, Fumihiko Kawamori, Toshiro Honda, Hiromi Fujita2, Nobuhiro Takada, Yosaburo Oikawa, Hiroki Kawabata, Shuji Ando, and Toshio Kishimoto

Author affiliations: University of Shizuoka Global Center of Excellence Program, Shizuoka, Japan (Gaowa, N. Ohashi, M. Aochi, Wuritu, D. Wu, Y. Yoshikawa, F. Kawamori); Shizuoka Institute of Environment and Hygiene, Shizuoka (F. Kawamori); Kagoshima Prefectural Institute for Environment Research and Public Health, Kagoshima, Japan (T. Honda); Ohara General Hospital, Fukushima, Japan (H. Fujita); Fukui University, Fukui, Japan (N. Takada); Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan (Y. Oikawa); National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan (H. Kawabata, S. Ando); Okayama Prefectural Institute for Environmental Science and Public Health, Okayama, Japan (T. Kishimoto)

Main Article

Table

PCR survey results for Haemaphysalis, Amblyomma, and Ixodes spp. ticks tested for rickettsiae, central and western Japan, 2007–2011*

Tick species No. ticks 
tested Total no. (%) ticks 
positive No. (%) ticks positive for
Rickettsia gltA, by species group†
A. phagocytophilum p44/msp2 Ehrlichia
p28/omp-1§
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5
H. formosensis 224 6 (2.7) 1 (0.4) 0 0 0 5 (2.2) 18 (8) 0
H. hystricis 97 19 (19.6) 6 (6.1) 0 0 13 (13.4) 0 0 0
H. longicornis 294 119 (40.5) 0 0 119 (40.5) 0 0 2 (0.7) 1 (0.4)
H. flava 55 6 (10.9) 0 0 2 (3.6) 0 4 (7.3) 0 0
H. kitaokai 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
H. megaspinosa 18 4 (22.2) 0 0 4 (22.2) 0 0 1 (5.6) 0
H. cornigera 11 1 (9.1) 1 (9.1) 0 0 0 0 0 0
A. testudinarium 112 26 (23.2) 0 26 (23.2) 0 0 0 3 (2.7) 1 (0.9)
A. geoemydae 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
I. ovatus 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 (20.0) 0
Total 827 181 (21.9) 8 (1.0) 26 (3.1) 125 (15.1) 13 (1.6) 9 (1.1) 25 (3.0) 2 (0.2)

*DNA was extracted from the salivary glands of each tick by using the DNeasy Mini Kit (QIAGEN Sciences, Germantown, MD, USA) and used as a template for PCR. The newly identified sequences of gltA, 16S rDNA, ompA, p44/msp2, and p28/omp-1 in this study were deposited into GenBank under accession nos. JQ697880–JQ697959. A. phagocytophilum, Anaplasma phagocytophilum.
†The PCR primers used, gltA–Fc (5′-CGAACTTACCGCTATTAGAATG-3′) and gltA–Rc (5′-CTTTAAGAGCGATAGCTTCAAG-3′), were designed in this study. Groups: 1, Rickettsia japonica YH (GenBank accession no. AP011533); 2, R. tamurae (GenBank accession no. AF394896); 3, Rickettsia sp. LON-13 (GenBank accession no. AB516964); 4, Rickettsia sp. Hf151; 5, other rickettsiae.
‡PCR primers of p3726 (5′-GCTAAGGAGTTAGCTTATGA-3′), p3761 (5′-CTGCTCT[T/G]GCCAA(AG)ACCTC-3′, p4183 (5′-CAATAGT[C/T]TTAGCTAGTAACC-3′), and p4257 (5′-AGAAGATCATAACAAGCATTG-3′) were used for detection of p44/msp2.
§PCR primers conP28-F1 (5′-AT[C/T]AGTG[G/C]AAA[A/G]TA[T/C][A/G]T[G/A]CCAA-3′), conP28-F2 (5′-CAATGG[A/G][T/A]GG[T/C]CC[A/C]AGA[A/G]TAG-3′), conP28-R1 (5′-TTA[G/A]AA[A/G]G[C/T]AAA[C/T]CT[T/G]CCTCC-3′), and conP28-R2 (5′-TTCC[T/C]TG[A/G]TA[A/G]G[A/C]AA[T/G]TTTAGG-3′) were used to detect p28/omp-1.

Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

2Current affiliation: Mahara Institute of Medical Acarology, Anan, Japan.

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Page updated: January 22, 2013
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