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30 June 2018 Rickettsia Species Isolated from Dermacentor occidentalis (Acari: Ixodidae) from California
Christopher D. Paddock, Melissa H. Yoshimizu, Maria L. Zambrano, Robert S. Lane, Bonnie M. Ryan, Alex Espinosa, Jill K. Hacker, Sandor E. Karpathy, Kerry A. Padgett
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Abstract

The Pacific Coast tick (Dermacentor occidentalis Marx, 1892) is one of the most widely distributed and frequently encountered tick species in California. This tick is the primary vector of an unclassified spotted fever group rickettsial pathogen, designated currently as Rickettsia 364D, the etiologic agent of a recently recognized tick-borne rickettsiosis known as Pacific Coast tick fever. Despite intensified interest in this pathogen, important questions remain regarding its taxonomic status and possible variations in genotype among different strains that could influence its pathogenicity. Only the extensively passaged prototypical isolate (strain 364-D) is widely available to rickettsiologists and public health scientists worldwide. To achieve a larger, more geographically diverse, and contemporary collection of strains, 1,060 questing adult D. occidentalis ticks were collected from 18 sites across six counties in northern and southern California in 2016 and 2017. Fourteen ticks (1.3%) yielded DNA of Rickettsia 364D and from these, 10 unique isolates from Lake and Orange counties were obtained. Additionally, Rickettsia rhipicephali was detected in 108 (10.2%) ticks, from which eight isolates were obtained, and Rickettsia bellii in six (0.6%), from which three isolates were obtained. The panel of recently acquired, low-passage strains of Rickettsia 364D derived from this study could enhance opportunities for investigators to accurately determine the taxonomic standing of this agent and to develop specific diagnostic assays for detecting infections with Rickettsia 364D in ticks and humans.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2018. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Christopher D. Paddock, Melissa H. Yoshimizu, Maria L. Zambrano, Robert S. Lane, Bonnie M. Ryan, Alex Espinosa, Jill K. Hacker, Sandor E. Karpathy, and Kerry A. Padgett "Rickettsia Species Isolated from Dermacentor occidentalis (Acari: Ixodidae) from California," Journal of Medical Entomology 55(6), 1555-1560, (30 June 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjy100
Received: 28 March 2018; Accepted: 2 June 2018; Published: 30 June 2018
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KEYWORDS
California
Dermacentor occidentalis
Pacific Coast tick
Rickettsia 364D
Rickettsia bellii
Rickettsia philipii
Rickettsia rhipicephali
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