Tick-associated diseases identified from hunting dogs during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Mayan community in Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

Background: Hunting activity in the Mayan communities has increased due to COVID-19 and domestic dogs have
gained more importance. Due to their proximity to humans, domestic dogs are a bridge between tick-borne diseases
(TBDs) and humans and their peri-domestic environment. In Mexico, and especially in rural regions, there were not
adequate records of TBDs during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Aim: Identify TBD of ticks collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural community.

Methods: Tick capture was carried out in March 2021, in Teabo, Yucatan. Ticks were removed using from domestic dogs  and placed in ethanol. Collected ticks were morphologically identified and underwent DNA extraction and a partial  segment of the mitochondrial 16S-rDNA gene was amplified to corroborate the tick species. The DNA was screened for  the presence of Anaplasma spp., Borrelia spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Rickettsia spp. Purified amplification products were  submitted for sequencing and the results were compared to those deposited in GenBank using BLAST.

Results: We collected 33 ectoparasites, Ixodes affinis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus microplus, and Amblyomma mixtum on 11 hunting dogs. The most frequent ectoparasite was R. sanguineus (66%). We detected the presence of DNA  of Rickettsia endosymbiont in I. affinis and Anaplasma platys in R. sanguineus. Rickettsia endosymbiont presented a   similarity of 100% with the partial sequence of R. endosymbiont of I. affinis isolate IACACTM001 16S ribosomal RNA  gene  and the sequence of A. platys had a similarity of 100% with the partial sequence of the isolate 23-33TX 16S   ribosomal RNA gene of A. platys from dogs from Texas, USA and with the partial sequence of the isolate L134 16S   ribosomal RNA gene of Ehrlichia canis from dogs from Piura, Peru.

Conclusion: We confirmed for the first time the   presence of A. platys in R. sanguineus and R. endosymbiont in I. affinis ticks from dogs in the state of Yucatan.