Phylogeny analysis of Bartonella genus in hard tick samples associated to domestic animals in west of Iran

Bartonella, as emerging vector-borne pathogens infecting various domestic and wild mammals, pose a significant threat to public health due to their role as zoonotic agents. The objective of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of the genus and species of Bartonella and to conduct a phylogenetic analysis of these organisms in ticks from five western provinces Hamedan, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Ilam, and Kurdistan, in Iran. Ticks were also collected from dogs, sheep, and goats. A total of 978 ticks were collected and subsequently divided into pools of 10. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were performed using specific primers to screen for the presence of Bartonella species. Additionally, sequence analysis was conducted based on the rpoB, gltA, ftsZ, groEL, and ribC genes to identify the presence of Bartonella. Phylogentic analysis was also performed using MEGA 11 software. The overall prevalence of the genus and species of Bartonella based on the gltA gene in 98 pooled samples in the study areas was 5 (5.01 %) (with a 95 % CI: 2.20 %-11.39 %). It is noteworthy that negative results were observed only in Ilam and Hamadan provinces. The presence of Bartonella quintana, Bartonella clarridageiae and Bartonella spp. was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis of the gltA, groEL, ftsZ, rpoB, and ribC genes, with a similarity of 96.96 %-100 %. In light of these findings, it can be posited that the genus and species of Bartonella, particularly B. quintana and B. clarridageiae are present in the ticks of western Iran.