Rickettsia infection in equines and species of tick vectors of Brazilian Spotted Fever in the Piracicaba River Basin, State of São Paulo

Abstract

Brazilian spotted fever (BSF) is an acute infectious disease, which etiologic agent is known as Rickettsia rickettsii, a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium and transmitted through the bite of infected ticks. Several wild and domestic animals play a crucial role in the epidemiology of spotted fever by developing temporary rickettsemia, allowing the infection of new generations of ticks and also serving as a dispersal vector for peri-domestic, domestic animals and humans. This study will investigate the diversity of Amblyomma species potentially associated to the spotted fever, as well as their rickettsia infection in areas of known transmission and in areas without transmission, in the Piracicaba river basin, state of São Paulo. It will also be conducted a serological survey of horses using indirect immunofluorescence for antigens of various species of rickettsia (R. rickettsii, R. parkeri, R. amblyommii, R. felis, R. bellii and R. rhipichefalus) in study sites. It is expected to investigate the diversity of species of ticks transmitting BSF and their rickettsia infection. In addition the seropositivity in horses in the study sites. The seropositivity in areas of study will be compared and we will study the role of horses as sentinels of human transmission in both regions. These results will contribute with an investigation of environmental factors associated with the BSF in the study region, CNPq process: 472573/2011-0. (AU)