Species identification of hard ticks and molecular survey of Ana plasma in partial areas of Anhui Province
The distribution of Ixodes and Ana plasma carried by Ixodes ticks in Anhui Province was clarified as reference for prevention and control of anaplasmosis.In total,630 hard ticks were collected from Jinzhai County,Hanshan County,Jing-de County and Chaohu City in Anhui Province from April to August 2023.Ticks were identified by morphological analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing.Nested PCR with Anaplasma species-specific primers were used to detect 16S rRNA of Anaplasma spe-cies carried by ticks.A phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA11.0 software.Of the identified ticks,18.8%(18/96)were Rhipicephalus microplus and 81.2%(78/96)were Haemaphysalis longicorni in Jinzhai County of Anhui Province,all were H.longicorni in Hanshan County and Chaohu City,while the main species in Jingde County was R.microplus.The posi-tive rate of Anaplasma carried by H.longicornis was 30.9%(102/330),which included A.bovis at 1.8%(6/330),A.phagocytophilum at 21.8%(72/330)and uncultured Anaplasma species at 7.3%(24/330).R.microplus was positively cor-related to A.bovis(13.6%,18/132).The uncultured Anaplasma species was mainly detected in host-free ticks.A.phagocy-tophilum was detected in 24.4%of parasitic ticks and 15.8%of host-free ticks.The positive rates of host-free and parasitic ticks were 19.9%and 17.8%,respectively.These results show that H.longicornis and R.microplus were the dominant ticks in several counties of Anhui Province.H.longicornis and R.microplus as well as free and parasitic ticks all carried Anaplas-ma.
tickidentification of tick speciesHaemaphysalis longicorniRhipicephalus microplusAnaplasmaAnhui Province