Infectious Diseases
Abstract
Human diseases such as Lyme disease (borreliosis), Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Ehrlichiosis continually affect the population of Tamaulipan Biotic Providence, area shared between Texas and Mexico. The tick Ixodes scapularis tends to be the main carrier for Borrelia bacteria, which causes borreliosis. Nonetheless, its absence in the area studied gave cue to the analysis of another tick, Amblyomma inornatum. It is important to characterize the disease potential of the latter tick in order to decrease the rate of population infected each year. In order to analyze the prevalence of the Borrelia, Rickettsia and Ehrlichia species (the causes of the diseases mentioned above) in the tick A. inornatum, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Agarose Gel Electrophoresis procedures are applied. The PCR method is used to amplify the DNA samples of the tick studied, while the Agarose Gel Electrophoresis method is run in order to identify whether the species of bacteria of our interest are present in the DNA samples or not. The results obtained, so far, show 23.5% positive for Borrelia species, 11.3% to be positive for Ehrlichia species, and 74.2% positive for Rickettsia. This study is one of the first to document that A. inornatum is a vector for Borrelia, Rickettsia and Ehrlichia. The results collected demonstrate that A. inornatum could have a great impact on the spread of diseases within the area studied. They also provide a better understanding of the role the tick plays in the health in south Texas, though additional investigation is required to complete the
Human diseases such as Lyme disease (borreliosis), Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Ehrlichiosis continually affect the population of Tamaulipan Biotic Providence, area shared between Texas and Mexico. The tick Ixodes scapularis tends to be the main carrier for Borrelia bacteria, which causes borreliosis. Nonetheless, its absence in the area studied gave cue to the analysis of another tick, Amblyomma inornatum. It is important to characterize the disease potential of the latter tick in order to decrease the rate of population infected each year. In order to analyze the prevalence of the Borrelia, Rickettsia and Ehrlichia species (the causes of the diseases mentioned above) in the tick A. inornatum, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Agarose Gel Electrophoresis procedures are applied. The PCR method is used to amplify the DNA samples of the tick studied, while the Agarose Gel Electrophoresis method is run in order to identify whether the species of bacteria of our interest are present in the DNA samples or not. The results obtained, so far, show 23.5% positive for Borrelia species, 11.3% to be positive for Ehrlichia species, and 74.2% positive for Rickettsia. This study is one of the first to document that A. inornatum is a vector for Borrelia, Rickettsia and Ehrlichia. The results collected demonstrate that A. inornatum could have a great impact on the spread of diseases within the area studied. They also provide a better understanding of the role the tick plays in the health in south Texas, though additional investigation is required to complete the