Rickettsia massiliae in ticks removed from humans in Castilla y León, Spain

3 pages, 1 table.-- PMID: 17061097 [PubMed].-- Printed version published Dec 2006.

Rickettsia massiliae, a spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsia, was first isolated from Rhipicephalus sanguineus collected in Marseille in 1992. Since then, this rickettsia has been commonly detected by molecular tools in Rhipicephalus ticks from France, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, Central Africa and Mali. Recently, R. massiliae has been reported as a human pathogen. This strain was first isolated in 1985 from a Sicilian patient who was hospitalized for fever and a rash. He presented with a necrotic eschar on his right ankle, a maculopapular rash on his palms and soles, and slight hepatomegaly. The strain was stored for 20 years and definitively identified as R. massiliae in 2005.

From 1997 to 2003, as part of a currently ongoing study, we analyzed 4,049 ticks that had been removed from 3,685 asymptomatic patients seen for tick bites at hospitals in the region of Castilla y León (northwestern Spain). All of these ticks were sent to our laboratory for specific identification and for PCR analysis to look for DNA of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi, Francisella tularensis and Rickettsia spp. In this way, we found R. massiliae not only in Rhipicephalus ticks but also in Ixodes ricinus ticks.

This work was supported by Consejería de Sanidad, Junta de Castilla y León and Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS), Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa EBATRAG-G03/057.

Peer reviewed