Molecular Detection of Rickettsia Genus in Hard Ticks Isolated from Goat Samples in Lorestan Province

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Microbiology and Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

2 Department of Microbiology and Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

3 Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran

10.22075/jvlr.2026.40119.1199

Abstract

Hard ticks are obligate and blood-sucking ectoparasites of terrestrial vertebrates that transmit some bacteria (such as Rickettsia , Borrelia, Ehrlichia, Bartonella , Francisella, and Coxiella) . The present study was conducted to identify and molecularly distinguish the genus Rickettsia from hard ticks isolated from samples of goat in Lorestan province . In this study, a total of 262 hard ticks were classified and identified based on diagnostic keys . Then, primers for the (gltA) genes were used to detect Rickettsia by Nested-PCR method. Mega 11 software with 1000 iterations was used for phylogenetic analysis. The results showed that 2 pool samples (9.18%) (CI: 4.9%-16.54%) of the tick samples from Lorestan province were infected with Rickettsia. The 2 positive pool samples were related to Haemaphysalis sulcata ticks from Aligudarz and Selseh (20%) (CI : -5.67%-50.98%). Blast sequencing of the positive samples in NCBI showed that the strains isolated in Lorestan province belong to the Rickettsia hoogstraalii species and are 99-100% similar to other strains registered in NCBI . The findings indicate that Haemaphysalis sulcata ticks may play an important role in the transmission of Rickettsia in the mentioned areas, so this issue could be a major public health concern worldwide .

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Journal of Veterinary Laboratory Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 28 January 2026

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