Background study on Rickettsia and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in ticks in the Guanzhong Plain
WANG Yuhua
LIU Jiacheng
XU Linli
HE Zhen
LU Zhenhua
SHAO Zhongjun
LIU Kun
LONG Yong
Abstract：Objective To investigate the species and geographical distribution characteristics of ticks in the Guanzhong Plain,and to determine the endemic characteristics and genetic diversity of ticks carrying Rickettsia and Anaplasma phagocytophilum(AP).Methods Tick samples were collected from May 2023 to July 2024 and DNA was extracted.Nested PCR was used to screen for Rickettsia and AP for further phylogenetic analysis.Results A total of 10 130 ticks were captured,and 219 ticks were selected for pathogen-carrying testing.Tick species identification confirmed that the detected ticks were Haemaphysalis longicornis.Pathogen detection results showed that the prevalence of Rickettsia and AP was 8.68％and 35.62％,respectively.Phylogenetic analysis showed that there were numerous variants of Rickettsia and AP in the Guanzhong Plain.The sequence of one Rickettsia strain did not cluster with the known reference sequence,suggesting that the strain may belong to a new variant strain.Conclusion The Guanzhong Plain has a high carrying rate of Rickettsia and AP,and these two pathogens can be divided into several different clades.This discovery reveals the potential diversity of their pathogenicity and provides a basis for further investigation of the pathogenicity of different clades.
Keywords：Haemaphysalis longicornisfirst-generation sequencingRickettsiaAnaplasma phagocytophilumGuanzhong Plainmolecular epidemiology
Publication Date：2025-05-31
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 591-597,604 )