Rickettsia hoogstraalii and a Rickettsiella from the Bat Tick Argas transgariepinus, in Namibia.

We present scanning electron microscope images of unengorged larvae. As with other ectoparasites, this bat tick might transmit pathogens such as Borrelia and Rickettsia to their hosts as has been reported for bat ticks in Europe and North America. We screened 3 pools (25 total) of larvae of A. transgariepinus removed from the long-tailed serotine bat Eptesicus hottentotus caught in Namibia. Two microbes of unknown pathogenicity, including Rickettsia hoogstraalii, a spotted fever group pathogen, and a Rickettsiella sp. were detected by molecular techniques. PMID: 33079998 [PubMed - in process]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33079998?dopt=Abstract

Source: The Journal of Parasitology - October 1, 2020 Category: Parasitology Authors: Reeves WK, Mans BJ, Durden LA, Miller MM, Gratton EM, Laverty TM Tags: J Parasitol Source Type: research