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Detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA in Ixodes Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae ) from Madeira Island and Setúbal District, Mainland Portugal

2004; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Volume: 10; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3201/eid1009.040276

1080-6059

Ana Sofia Santos, Maria Margarida Santos‐Silva, Victor Almeida, Fátima Bacellar, J. Stephen Dumler,

Mosquito-borne diseases and control

Abstract A total of 278 Ixodes ticks, collected from Madeira Island and Setúbal District, mainland Portugal, were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Six (4%) of 142 Ixodes ricinus nymphs collected in Madeira Island, and 1 nymph and 1 male (2%) of 93 I. ventalloi collected in Setúbal District tested positive for A. phagocytophilum msp2 genes or rrs. Infection was not detected among 43 I. ricinus on mainland Portugal. All PCR products were confirmed by nucleotide sequencing to be identical or to be most closely related to A. phagocytophilum. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of A. phagocytophilum in ticks from Setúbal District, mainland Portugal, and the first documentation of Anaplasma infection in I. ventalloi. Moreover, these findings confirm the persistence of A. phagocytophilum in Madeira Island's I. ricinus.