Spirochetes from the Borrelia genus are known to cause diseases in humans, namely Lyme disease and relapsing fever. These organisms are commonly transmitted to humans by arthropod vectors including ticks, mite, and lice. Here, we report the molecular detection of a Borrelia sp. from a Haemaphysalis hystricis Supino tick collected from wildlife in an Orang Asli settlement in Selangor, Malaysia. Phylogenetic analyses of partial 16s rRNA and flaB gene sequences revealed that the Borrelia sp. is closely related to the relapsing fever group borreliae, Borrelia lonestari, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Borrelia theileri, as well as a number of uncharacterized Borrelia sp. from ticks in Portugal and Japan. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a Borrelia sp. detected in H. hystricis, and in Malaysia. The zoonotic potential of this Borrelia sp. merits further investigation.
Amblyomma ticks parasitize a wide range of animals in tropical regions. This study describes the identification of Amblyomma ticks from wild snakes in Malaysia and the detection of potential human pathogens such as Rickettsia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and bartonellae in the ticks.
Rural communities in Malaysia have been shown to be exposed to Coxiella, Borrelia and rickettsial infections in previous seroprevalence studies. Further research is necessary to identify the actual causative agents and the potential vectors of these infections. The arthropods parasitizing peri-domestic animals in these communities may serve as the vector in transmitting arthropod-borne and zoonotic agents to the humans. Molecular screening of bacterial and zoonotic pathogens from ticks and fleas collected from dogs, cats and chickens from six rural communities in Malaysia was undertaken. These communities were made up of mainly the indigenous people of Malaysia, known as the Orang Asli, as well as settlers in oil palm plantations. The presence of Coxiella burnetii, Borrelia, and rickettsial agents, including Rickettsia and Anaplasma, was investigated by performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing. Candidatus Rickettsia senegalensis was detected in one out of eight pools of Ctenocephalides felis fleas. A relapsing fever group Borrelia sp. was identified from one of seven Haemaphysalis hystricis ticks tested. The results from the PCR screening for Anaplasma unexpectedly revealed the presence of Candidatus Midichloria sp., a potential tick endosymbiont, in two out of fourteen Haemaphysalis wellingtoni ticks tested. C. burnetii was not detected in any of the samples tested. The findings here provide evidence for the presence of potentially novel strains of rickettsial and borrelial agents in which their impact on public health risks among the rural communities in Malaysia merit further investigation. The detection of a potential endosymbiont of ticks also suggest that the presence of tick endosymbionts in the region is not fully explored.
Bartonellosis is an emerging zoonotic infection responsible for a variety of clinical syndromes in humans and animals. Members of the genus Bartonella exhibit high degrees of genetic diversity and ecologic plasticity. The infection is usually transmitted to animals and humans through blood-feeding arthropod vectors such as fleas, lice, ticks and sandflies. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Bartonella species in 184 beef cattle, 40 dairy cattle, 40 sheep and 40 goats in eight animal farms across Peninsular Malaysia. Bartonella-specific PCR assays and sequence analysis of partial fragments of the citrate synthase gene were used for detection and identification of B. bovis. Isolation of B. bovis was attempted from PCR-positive blood samples. Molecular heterogeneity of the isolates was investigated based on sequence analysis of gltA, ITS, rpoB genes, ERIC-PCR, as well as using an established multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method. The carriage rate of B. bovis in ticks was also determined in this study.
Ticks are vectors in the transmission of many important infectious diseases in human and animals. Ticks can be readily found in the semi-forested areas such as the settlements of the indigenous people in Malaysia, the Orang Asli. There is still minimal information available on the bacterial agents associated with ticks found in Malaysia. We performed a survey of the bacterial communities associated with ticks collected from domestic animals found in two Orang Asli villages in Malaysia. We collected 62 ticks, microscopically and molecularly identified as related to Haemaphysalis wellingtoni, Haemaphysalis hystricis and Haemaphysalis bispinosa. Bacterial 16s rRNA hypervariable region (V6) amplicon libraries prepared from the tick samples were sequenced on the Ion Torrent PGM platform. We detected a total of 392 possible bacterial genera after pooling and sequencing 20 samples, indicating a diverse bacterial community profile. Dominant taxa include the potential tick endosymbiont, Coxiella. Other dominant taxa include the tick-associated pathogen, Rickettsia, and environmental bacteria such as Bacillus, Mycobacterium, Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas. Other known tick-associated bacteria were also detected, including Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsiella and Wolbachia, albeit at very low abundance. Specific PCR was performed on selected samples to identify Rickettsia and Coxiella. Sequence of Rickettsia felis, which causes spotted fever in human and cats, was identified in one sample. Coxiella endosymbionts were detected in three samples. This study provides the baseline knowledge of the microbiome of ticks in Malaysia, focusing on tick-associated bacteria affecting the Orang Asli communities. The role of the herein found Coxiella and Rickettsia in tick physiology or disease transmission merits further investigation.