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Dehhaghi M, Kazemi Shariat Panahi H, Holmes EC, Hudson BJ, Schloeffel R, Guillemin GJ. Human Tick-Borne Diseases in Australia. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019; 9:3. [PMID: 30746341 PMCID: PMC6360175 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2019.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
There are 17 human-biting ticks known in Australia. The bites of Ixodes holocyclus, Ornithodoros capensis, and Ornithodoros gurneyi can cause paralysis, inflammation, and severe local and systemic reactions in humans, respectively. Six ticks, including Amblyomma triguttatum, Bothriocroton hydrosauri, Haemaphysalis novaeguineae, Ixodes cornuatus, Ixodes holocyclus, and Ixodes tasmani may transmit Coxiella burnetii, Rickettsia australis, Rickettsia honei, or Rickettsia honei subsp. marmionii. These bacterial pathogens cause Q fever, Queensland tick typhus (QTT), Flinders Island spotted fever (FISF), and Australian spotted fever (ASF). It is also believed that babesiosis can be transmitted by ticks to humans in Australia. In addition, Argas robertsi, Haemaphysalis bancrofti, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes hirsti, Rhipicephalus australis, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks may play active roles in transmission of other pathogens that already exist or could potentially be introduced into Australia. These pathogens include Anaplasma spp., Bartonella spp., Burkholderia spp., Francisella spp., Dera Ghazi Khan virus (DGKV), tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), Lake Clarendon virus (LCV), Saumarez Reef virus (SREV), Upolu virus (UPOV), or Vinegar Hill virus (VINHV). It is important to regularly update clinicians' knowledge about tick-borne infections because these bacteria and arboviruses are pathogens of humans that may cause fatal illness. An increase in the incidence of tick-borne infections of human may be observed in the future due to changes in demography, climate change, and increase in travel and shipments and even migratory patterns of birds or other animals. Moreover, the geographical conditions of Australia are favorable for many exotic ticks, which may become endemic to Australia given an opportunity. There are some human pathogens, such as Rickettsia conorii and Rickettsia rickettsii that are not currently present in Australia, but can be transmitted by some human-biting ticks found in Australia, such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus, if they enter and establish in this country. Despite these threats, our knowledge of Australian ticks and tick-borne diseases is in its infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Dehhaghi
- Neuroinflammation Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Centre of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Hamed Kazemi Shariat Panahi
- Neuroinflammation Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Department of Microbial Biotechnology, School of Biology and Centre of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Edward C. Holmes
- Charles Perkins Centre, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Sydney Medical School, Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Bernard J. Hudson
- Department of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | | | - Gilles J. Guillemin
- Neuroinflammation Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Chalada MJ, Stenos J, Vincent G, Barker D, Bradbury RS. A Molecular Survey of Tick-Borne Pathogens from Ticks Collected in Central Queensland, Australia. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2018; 18:151-163. [PMID: 29336689 DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2017.2182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Central Queensland (CQ) is a large and isolated, low population density, remote tropical region of Australia with a varied environment. The region has a diverse fauna and several species of ticks that feed upon that fauna. This study examined 518 individual ticks: 177 Rhipicephalus sanguineus (brown dog tick), 123 Haemaphysalis bancrofti (wallaby tick), 102 Rhipicephalus australis (Australian cattle tick), 47 Amblyomma triguttatum (ornate kangaroo tick), 57 Ixodes holocyclus (paralysis tick), 9 Bothriocroton tachyglossi (CQ short-beaked echidna tick), and 3 Ornithodoros capensis (seabird soft tick). Tick midguts were pooled by common host or environment and screened for four genera of tick-borne zoonoses by PCR and sequencing. The study examined a total of 157 midgut pools of which 3 contained DNA of Coxiella burnetii, 13 Rickettsia gravesii, 1 Rickettsia felis, and 4 other Rickettsia spp. No Borrelia spp. or Babesia spp. DNA were recovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Judith Chalada
- 1 School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University , North Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
| | - John Stenos
- 2 Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory , Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Gemma Vincent
- 2 Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory , Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Dayana Barker
- 3 School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland , Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Richard Stewart Bradbury
- 1 School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Central Queensland University , North Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
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Abdad MY, Abdallah RA, Karkouri KE, Beye M, Stenos J, Owen H, Unsworth N, Robertson I, Blacksell SD, Nguyen TT, Nappez C, Raoult D, Fenwick S, Fournier PE. Rickettsia gravesii sp. nov.: a novel spotted fever group rickettsia in Western Australian Amblyomma triguttatum triguttatum ticks. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:3156-3161. [PMID: 28857025 DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.001865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A rickettsial organism harboured by Amblyomma triguttatum ticks on Barrow Island, Western Australia, was discovered after reports of possible rickettsiosis among local workers. Subsequent isolation of this rickettsia (strain BWI-1) in cell culture and analysis of its phylogenetic, genotypic and phenotypic relationships with type strains of Rickettsia species with standing in nomenclature suggested that it was sufficiently divergent to warrant its classification as a new species. Multiple gene comparison of strain BWI-1 revealed degrees of sequence similarity with Rickettsia raoultii, its closest relative, of 99.58, 98.89, 97.03, 96.93 and 95.73 % for the 16S rRNA, citrate synthase, ompA, ompB and sca4 genes, respectively. Serotyping in mice also demonstrated that strain BWI-1T was distinct from Rickettsia raoultii. Thus, we propose the naming of a new species, Rickettsia gravesii sp. nov., based on its novel genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. Strain BWI-1T was deposited in the ATCC, CSUR and ARRL collections under reference numbers VR-1664, CSUR R172 and RGBWI-1, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Y Abdad
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia.,Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Barwon Biomedical Research, Geelong Hospital, Bellerine Street, Geelong 3220, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rita Abou Abdallah
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - Khalid El Karkouri
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - Mamadou Beye
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - John Stenos
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Barwon Biomedical Research, Geelong Hospital, Bellerine Street, Geelong 3220, Victoria, Australia
| | - Helen Owen
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Nathan Unsworth
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Barwon Biomedical Research, Geelong Hospital, Bellerine Street, Geelong 3220, Victoria, Australia.,Defense Science and Technology Group, Land Division, 506 Lorimer St. Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ian Robertson
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Stuart D Blacksell
- Mahidol-Oxford Research Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.,Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Churchill Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Thi-Tien Nguyen
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - Claude Nappez
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - Didier Raoult
- URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
| | - Stan Fenwick
- School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Pierre-Edouard Fournier
- Centre National de Référence des Rickettsia, Coxiella et Bartonella, Faculté de Médecine, Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France.,URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille cedex 05, France
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Raby E, Pearn T, Marangou AG, Merritt AJ, Murray RJ, Dyer JR, Graves SR. New Foci of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae Including Rickettsia honei in Western Australia. Trop Med Infect Dis 2016; 1:tropicalmed1010005. [PMID: 30270856 PMCID: PMC6082045 DOI: 10.3390/tropicalmed1010005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2016] [Revised: 08/08/2016] [Accepted: 08/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
We describe the first reported case of spotted fever group rickettsiosis in Western Australia, and two cases of probable Rickettsia honei from a new geographic focus. These findings highlight the need to raise awareness of ricksettsial infection among local clinicians as well as those treating visitors to this region, important for outdoor recreation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Raby
- Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
| | - Toby Pearn
- Recherche Medical Centre, Esperance, WA 6450, Australia.
| | | | - Adam J Merritt
- PathWest Laboratory Medicine, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia.
| | - Ronan J Murray
- PathWest Laboratory Medicine, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia.
| | - John R Dyer
- Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
| | - Stephen R Graves
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia.
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de Barsy M, Bertelli C, Jacquier N, Kebbi-Beghdadi C, Greub G. ESCCAR international congress on Rickettsia and other intracellular bacteria. Microbes Infect 2015; 17:680-8. [PMID: 26297854 DOI: 10.1016/j.micinf.2015.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2015] [Accepted: 07/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The European Society for the study of Chlamydia, Coxiella, Anaplasma and Rickettsia (ESCCAR) held his triennial international meeting in Lausanne. This meeting gathered 165 scientists from 28 countries and all 5 continents, allowing efficient networking and major scientific exchanges. Topics covered include molecular and cellular microbiology, genomics, as well as epidemiology, veterinary and human medicine. Several breakthroughs have been revealed at the meeting, such as (i) the presence of CRISPR (the "prokaryotic immune system") in chlamydiae, (ii) an Anaplasma effector involved in host chromatin remodelling, (iii) the polarity of the type III secretion system of chlamydiae during the entry process revealed by cryo-electron tomography. Moreover, the ESCCAR meeting was a unique opportunity to be exposed to cutting-edge science and to listen to comprehensive talks on current hot topics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie de Barsy
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Claire Bertelli
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Jacquier
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Carole Kebbi-Beghdadi
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Gilbert Greub
- Institute of Microbiology, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Abdad MY, Cook A, Dyer J, Stenos J, Fenwick SG. Seroepidemiological study of outdoor recreationists' exposure to spotted fever group Rickettsia in Western Australia. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2014; 91:584-8. [PMID: 24935947 DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.14-0102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Bushland activity has previously been linked to rickettsial exposure in eastern and central regions of Australia, whereas little is known about the risks in Western Australia. The isolation of Rickettsia gravesii sp. nov. from Amblyomma triguttatum ticks and anecdotal reports of low-grade illness among bush recreationists raised the possibility of rickettsial transmission in the State. This study investigated rickettsial seroprevalence and potential risk of exposure to the spotted fever group rickettsiae in rogainers. Our results showed that rogainers active in the bush had a significantly higher risk of seropositivity (immunofluorescence total antibody titer ≥ 128) for the spotted fever group Rickettsia (odds ratio [OR] = 14.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38-142.07) compared with a reference population, the overall seroprevalence in the rogainer group being 23.1%.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Y Abdad
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Angus Cook
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - John Dyer
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - John Stenos
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Stanley G Fenwick
- Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Fremantle Hospital, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia; School of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
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