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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2005, p. 1127-1132, Vol. 43, No. 3
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.3.1127-1132.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Detection and Identification of Ehrlichia spp. in Ticks Collected in Tunisia and Morocco

M'Hammed Sarih,^1, Youmna M'Ghirbi,^2, Ali Bouattour,² Lise Gern,³ Guy Baranton,⁴ and Danièle Postic^4*

Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca, Morocco,¹ Institut Pasteur, Tunis, Tunisia,² Institut de Zoologie, Université de NeuchÂtel, NeuchÂtel, Switzerland,³ Institut Pasteur, Paris, France⁴

Received 6 July 2004/ Returned for modification 18 September 2004/ Accepted 4 November 2004

A broad-range 16S rRNA gene PCR assay followed by partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was used for the detection of members of the family Anaplasmataceae in ticks in North Africa. A total of 418 questing Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in Tunisia and Morocco, as well as 188 Rhipicephalus ticks from dogs and 52 Hyalomma ticks from bovines in Tunisia, were included in this study. Of 324 adult I. ricinus ticks, 16.3% were positive for Ehrlichia spp., whereas only 3.4 and 2.8% of nymphs and larvae, respectively, were positive. A large heterogeneity was observed in the nucleotide sequences. Partial sequences identical to that of the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) were detected in I. ricinus and Hyalomma detritum, whereas partial sequences identical to that of Anaplasma platys were detected in Rhipicephalus sanguineus. However, variants of Anaplasma, provisionally designated Anaplasma-like, were predominant in the I. ricinus tick population in Maghreb. Otherwise, two variants of the genus Ehrlichia were detected in I. ricinus and H. detritum. Surprisingly, a variant of Wolbachia pipientis was evidenced from I. ricinus in Morocco. These results emphasized the potential risk of tick bites for human and animal populations in North Africa.

M.S. and Y.M. contributed equally to this work.

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