First molecular evidence of Rickettsia conorii subsp. raoultii from Rhipicephalus linnaei (Acari: Ixodidae) infesting pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) (Lagomorpha: Leporidae) in Peninsular Malaysia

Kazim AR 1 , Low VL 2 , Subramaniam V 3 , Houssaini J 4 , Tappe D 5 , Heo CC 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Higher Institution of Centre of Excellence (HICoE), Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Pharmacology and Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Selangor, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Institute of Pathology, Laboratory and Forensic Medicine (I-PPerForM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 5 Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
J Med Entomol, 2025 Apr 03.
PMID: 40178432 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjaf038

Abstract

A total of 68 adult hard ticks were recovered from 5 cases of infestation involving pet rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) in Malaysia. The ticks were later identified as the tropical brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus linnaei (Audouin, 1826). Pathogen screening showed 2 out of the 68 Rh. linnaei ticks (2.94% infection rate) were positive for Rickettsia. BLAST analyses revealed that both samples were identical to Rickettsia conorii subsp. raoultii. This paper reports the first detection of R. conorii subsp. raoultii in Rh. linnaei, also highlighting the potential zoonotic threat posed by ticks infesting exotic pets such as rabbits.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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