Article
Rickettsiae of the Spotted Fever group in dogs, horses and ticks: an epidemiological study in an endemic region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Registro en:
CUNHA, Nathalie Costa da; et al. Rickettsiae of the Spotted Fever group in dogs, horses and ticks: an epidemiological study in an endemic region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rev. Bras. Med. Vet., v.36, n.3, p.294-300, jul/ 2014.
1413-0130
Autor
Cunha, Nathalie Costa da
Lemos, Elba R.S. de
Tozental, Tatiana
Teixeira, Rafaella Câmara
Cordeiro, Matheus Dias
Lisbôa, Raquel Silva
Favacho, Alexsandra Rodrigues
Barreira, Jairo Dias
Rezende, Jania de
Fonseca, Adivaldo Henrique da
Resumen
Spotted fever is a disease of which Rickettsia rickettsii is the most pathogenic
agent. Its transmission is by tick bites and the infected ticks can act as vectors,
reservoirs or amplifiers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the potential
of dogs and horses as sentinels for brazilian spotted fever (BSF) emergence
and become acquainted with the tick species in a municipal region of Resende,
Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, where five BSF cases in man were registered. Dog
and horse blood samples were collected from rural and periurban properties
to assess IgG anti-Rickettsia rickettsii, using the indirect immunofluorescence
assay (IFA). First, an analysis was conducted to detect association between IFA
results and answers obtained from a questionnaire. Afterwards, a multivariate
investigation was undertaken that presented significant statistical differences.
Ticks were collected directly from dogs and horses for taxonomic identification.
Out of the 107 canine serum samples, 30 (28.0%) were reactive, with titers
varying from 1:64 to 1:4096, and 77 (72.0%) were not reactive. Of 96 animals in the serum analysis of horses, 9 (9.4%) were reactive, all with titers of 1:64, and
87 (90.6%) were non-reactive. The tick species collected from dogs were Rhipicephalus
sanguineus, Amblyomma sculptum, Amblyomma aureolatum, Amblyomma
ovale, Rhipicephalus microplus and nymphs of Amblyomma sp., R. sanguineus and
R. microplus. Adult ticks gathered from horses were A. cajennense, R. microplus
and Dermacentor nitens, in addition to nymphs of Amblyomma sp., R. microplus
and D. nitens. The results suggest that: (i) the habit of dogs entering forests
and living in rural environments positively influenced the presence of anti-
-rickettsiae of the spotted fever group serum antibodies, (ii) horses were not
good sentinels for this study area and (iii) R. sanguineus as well as A. cajennense
ticks were the most prevalent ixodidae fauna of the region.