A Human Case of Spotted Fever Caused by Rickettsia Parkeri Strain Atlantic Rainforest and Its Association to the Tick Amblyomma Ovale

Overview

Journal Parasit Vectors

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Parasitology
Tropical Medicine

Date 2019 Oct 13

PMID 31604442

Citations 17

Authors

Anaia da Paixao Seva

Thiago Fernandes Martins

Sebastian Munoz-Leal

Ana Carla Rodrigues

Adriano Pinter

Hermes R Luz

Rodrigo N Angerami

Marcelo B Labruna

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Rickettsia parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest has emerged in Brazil during the last 10 years, with three laboratory-confirmed human cases. While these cases were epidemiologically associated with the tick Amblyomma ovale, in none of them the tick specimens that bit the patients could be identified.

Results: We report a clinical case of spotted fever rickettsiosis that was acquired in an Atlantic forest area in Bahia state, northeast Brazil. The case was determined to be caused by R. parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest, based on molecular analysis of the crust removed from the tick bite site (inoculation eschar) of the patients' skin. DNA extracted from the crust yielded partial sequences of three rickettsial genes (gltA, ompA and ompB), which were 99-100% identical to R. parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest. The tick specimen that was attached to patient skin was identified as a female of A. ovale.

Conclusions: We report the fourth confirmed case of spotted fever rickettsiosis caused by R. parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest, providing to our knowledge for the first time, direct evidence of R. parkeri strain Atlantic rainforest transmission by A. ovale.

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