A Study of Ticks and Tick-Borne Livestock Pathogens in Pakistan

Authors

Shahid Karim, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Khemraj Budachetri, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Nabanita Mukherjee, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Jaclyn Williams, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Asma Kausar, University of Southern Mississippi
Muhammad Jawadul Hassan, University of Southern Mississippi
Steven W. Adamson, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Scot E. Dowd, Molecular Research LPFollow
Dmitry Apanskevich, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow
Abdullah Arijo, Sindh Agricultural University
Zia Uddin Sindhu, University of Agriculture FaisalabadFollow
Muhammad Azam Kakar, Lasbela University of Agriculture
Raja Muhammad Dilpazir Khan, Department of Animal Husbandry, Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
Shafiq Ullah, University of Agriculture Faisalabad
Muhammad Sohail Sajid, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Abid Ali, Abdul Wali Khan UniversityFollow
Zafar Iqbal, University of Agriculture FaisalabadFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-26-2017

Department

Biological Sciences

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Background

As obligate blood-feeding arthropods, ticks transmit pathogens to humans and domestic animals more often than other arthropod vectors. Livestock farming plays a vital role in the rural economy of Pakistan, and tick infestation causes serious problems with it. However, research on tick species diversity and tick-borne pathogens has rarely been conducted in Pakistan. In this study, a systematic investigation of the tick species infesting livestock in different ecological regions of Pakistan was conducted to determine the microbiome and pathobiome diversity in the indigenous ticks.

Methodology/Principal findings A total of 3,866 tick specimens were morphologically identified as 19 different tick species representing three important hard ticks, Rhipicephalus, Haemaphysalis and Hyalomma, and two soft ticks, Ornithodorus and Argas. The bacterial diversity across these tick species was assessed by bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing using a 454-sequencing platform on 10 of the different tick species infesting livestock. The notable genera detected include Ralstonia, Clostridium, Staphylococcus, Rickettsia, Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium, Enterobacter, and Enterococcus. A survey of Spotted fever group rickettsia from 514 samples from the 13 different tick species generated rickettsial-specific amplicons in 10% (54) of total ticks tested. Only three tick species Rhipicephalus microplus, Hyalomma anatolicum, and H. dromedarii had evidence of infection with “Candidatus Rickettsia amblyommii” a result further verified using a rompB gene-specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. The Hyalomma ticks also tested positive for the piroplasm, Theileria annulata, using a qPCR assay.

Conclusions/Significance

This study provides information about tick diversity in Pakistan, and pathogenic bacteria in different tick species. Our results showed evidence for Candidatus R. amblyommii infection in Rhipicephalus microplus, H. anatolicum, and H. dromedarii ticks, which also carried T. annulata.

Publication Title

PLOS: Neglected Tropical Diseases

Volume

11

Issue

6

First Page

1

Last Page

17

Recommended Citation

Karim, S., Budachetri, K., Mukherjee, N., Williams, J., Kausar, A., Hassan, M. J., Adamson, S. W., Dowd, S. E., Apanskevich, D., Arijo, A., Sindhu, Z. U., Kakar, M. A., Khan, R. D., Ullah, S., Sajid, M. S., Ali, A., Iqbal, Z. (2017). A Study of Ticks and Tick-Borne Livestock Pathogens in Pakistan. PLOS: Neglected Tropical Diseases, 11(6), 1-17.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/15555