Sargis A Aghayan, Gohar Grigoryan, Hasmik Gevorgyan, Tehmine Harutyunyan, Martin Rukhkyan, Vahagn Muradyan, Gregory Karadjian, Maud Marsot, Sara Moutailler, Thomas Pollet
{"title":"Diversity and Distribution of Bacterial and Parasitic Tick-Borne Pathogens in Armenia, Transcaucasia.","authors":"Sargis A Aghayan, Gohar Grigoryan, Hasmik Gevorgyan, Tehmine Harutyunyan, Martin Rukhkyan, Vahagn Muradyan, Gregory Karadjian, Maud Marsot, Sara Moutailler, Thomas Pollet","doi":"10.18502/ijph.v53i11.16960","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Variations in the distribution and prevalence of pathogens in ticks can have significant consequences for human health. Information on these variables in Transcaucasia is scarce, so the aim of our study was to conduct a large-scale study to detect selected tick-borne infectious agents in Armenia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Overall, 209 adult ticks were collected from different hosts including 4 samples from human clothes. We tested ticks using high-throughput microfluidic single-cell real-time PCR to detect 42 genospecies of pathogens. We used GIS to determine biotic and abiotic factors governing the prevalence of pathogens and applied statistical analyses to test the association between prevalence of pathogens depending on hosts, locality and environment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From 209 samples, 134 were positive to targeted pathogens. <i>Anaplasma phagocytophilum</i> Foggie, 1949 was the most prevalent case (44%). The highest overall prevalence was observed in ticks from sheep (74%), followed by cows (67%) and calves (60%). The highest multiple infection rates were also detected in sheep (40%) and calves (40%) followed by cows (28%). One statistically significant association was found among co-infections (<i>P</i><0.05). The prevalence of pathogens varied according to locality. The abundance of <i>Anaplasma</i> spp. is significantly correlated with \"slope\" and \"vegetation\" factors. Similar patterns were detected for other pathogens.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This was the first large-scale survey of multiple tick-borne pathogens in Armenia and Transcaucasia. The results of this study shed light on spatial variations in pathogen infection rate among adult ticks found on hosts and underline a number of environmental determinants of pathogen distribution among ticks.</p>","PeriodicalId":14685,"journal":{"name":"Iranian Journal of Public Health","volume":"53 11","pages":"2563-2571"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11607165/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Iranian Journal of Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v53i11.16960","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Variations in the distribution and prevalence of pathogens in ticks can have significant consequences for human health. Information on these variables in Transcaucasia is scarce, so the aim of our study was to conduct a large-scale study to detect selected tick-borne infectious agents in Armenia.
Methods: Overall, 209 adult ticks were collected from different hosts including 4 samples from human clothes. We tested ticks using high-throughput microfluidic single-cell real-time PCR to detect 42 genospecies of pathogens. We used GIS to determine biotic and abiotic factors governing the prevalence of pathogens and applied statistical analyses to test the association between prevalence of pathogens depending on hosts, locality and environment.
Results: From 209 samples, 134 were positive to targeted pathogens. Anaplasma phagocytophilum Foggie, 1949 was the most prevalent case (44%). The highest overall prevalence was observed in ticks from sheep (74%), followed by cows (67%) and calves (60%). The highest multiple infection rates were also detected in sheep (40%) and calves (40%) followed by cows (28%). One statistically significant association was found among co-infections (P<0.05). The prevalence of pathogens varied according to locality. The abundance of Anaplasma spp. is significantly correlated with "slope" and "vegetation" factors. Similar patterns were detected for other pathogens.
Conclusion: This was the first large-scale survey of multiple tick-borne pathogens in Armenia and Transcaucasia. The results of this study shed light on spatial variations in pathogen infection rate among adult ticks found on hosts and underline a number of environmental determinants of pathogen distribution among ticks.
期刊介绍:
Iranian Journal of Public Health has been continuously published since 1971, as the only Journal in all health domains, with wide distribution (including WHO in Geneva and Cairo) in two languages (English and Persian). From 2001 issue, the Journal is published only in English language. During the last 41 years more than 2000 scientific research papers, results of health activities, surveys and services, have been published in this Journal. To meet the increasing demand of respected researchers, as of January 2012, the Journal is published monthly. I wish this will assist to promote the level of global knowledge. The main topics that the Journal would welcome are: Bioethics, Disaster and Health, Entomology, Epidemiology, Health and Environment, Health Economics, Health Services, Immunology, Medical Genetics, Mental Health, Microbiology, Nutrition and Food Safety, Occupational Health, Oral Health. We would be very delighted to receive your Original papers, Review Articles, Short communications, Case reports and Scientific Letters to the Editor on the above mentioned research areas.