Study on co-infection of tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes persulcatus in Charles Hilary, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region / 中华流行病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the co-infection of tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes persulcatus collected in Charles Hilary,Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region (Xinjiang).Methods Ticks were collected by flagging in grassy areas in Charles Hilary,Xinjiang from June 2012 to June 2013.The 5S-23S rRNA intergenic region from Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi,16S rRNA gene from Anaplasma,ompA gene from spotted fever group Rickettsia,comI gene from Coxiella (C.) burneti and Nss-rRNA gene from Babesia were amplified with nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR),respectively.Results Among 204 lxodes persulcatus,104 were positive for tick-borne pathogens with the positive rate of 50.98％,and among them the positive rates of B.burgdorferi,spotted fever group Rickettsia and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were 34.31％ (n =70),28.92％ (n =59),9.31％ (n =19),respectively.And no C.burnetii and Babesia were detected.The overall co-infection rate was 19.12％ (39/204),the co-infection rate was 16.18％(33/204) for B.garinii and spotted fever group Rickettsia,4.90％ (10/204) for B.burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum,2.94％(6/204) for spotted fever group Rickettsia and Anaplasma phagocytophilum and 2.45％ (5/204) for B.burgdorferi,Anaplasma phagocytophilum and spotted fever group Rickettsia.Conclusion The results indicated that the natural co-infections of B.garinii,B.afzelii,Anaplasma phagocytophilum and spotted fever group Rickettsia existed in Charles Hilary Ixodes persulcatus collected in Xinjiang.