First report of Amblyomma sculptum (Amblyomma cajennense complex) in a Brazilian state classified as a silent area for human rickettsiosis

Vet World Vol.16 November-2023 Article-3

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(11): 2200-2204

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.2200-2204

Bruna Costa da Gama¹, Thiago Fernandes Martins^2,3, Marcelo Bahia Labruna², Rafael Felipe da Costa Vieira^4,5, and Jonatas Campos de Almeida¹

1. Centro de Engenharia e Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Viçosa, Alagoas, Brazil.
2. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
3. Instituto Pasteur, Área Técnica de Doenças Vinculadas a Vetores e Hospedeiros Intermediários, Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
4. Department of Public Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Services, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
5. Center for Computational Intelligence to Predict Health and Environmental Risks, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

Background and Aim: Studies on ticks of public health concern in equine husbandry are scarce in the Northeastern region of Brazil. This study aimed to investigate the presence of ticks on horses in the State of Alagoas, which is classified as a silent area for human rickettsiosis.

Materials and Methods: Ticks infesting horses were collected using anatomical tweezers or a commercial hook and kept in ethanol-labeled tubes for taxonomic identification.

Results: A total of 2,238 ticks were found. Ticks were identified as 2,215 (98.89%, 95% CI: 98.41–99.28) Dermacentor nitens, 19 (0.98%, 95% CI: 0.05–1.38) Amblyomma sculptum, and 4 (0.18%; 95% CI: 0.007–0.46) Rhipicephalus microplus.

Conclusion: This is the first study to report A. sculptum and D. nitens in the State of Alagoas. The presence of A. sculptum should draw the attention of public health managers once Alagoas State is considered a silent area for rickettsial diseases, which means the absence of local surveillance programs for these pathogens. Keywords: Amblyomma sculptum, public health, silent area.

Keywords: Amblyomma sculptum, public health, silent area.

How to cite this article: Gama BC, Martins TF, Labruna MB, Vieira RFC, and Almeida JC (2023) First report of Amblyomma sculptum (Amblyomma cajennense complex) in a Brazilian state classified as a silent area for human rickettsiosis, Veterinary World, 16(11): 2200-2204.

Received: 25-06-2023 Accepted: 10-10-2023 Published online: 01-11-2023

Corresponding author: E-mail: jonatas.almeida@ceca.ufal.br

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.2200-2204

Copyright: Gama, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.