Dr Abdullah Saghir Ahmad - Status of ticks and tick borne diseases of canine in Pakistan
Channel: Vector-Borne Pathogens in Greater Bay Area
Date: 07/04/2022

Abstract

Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (s.l.) is the most widely distributed ixodid tick and is a vector of major canine and human pathogens. High-throughput technologies have revealed that individual ticks carry a high diversity of pathogens, including bacteria, protozoa and viruses. Currently, it is accepted that co-infections (multiple pathogen species within an individual) are very common in ticks and influence pathogen acquisition and transmission as well as host infection risk. However, little is known on the impact of the genetic diversity of pathogens on the incidence of co-infections. Herein, we studied the frequency of co-infections in R. sanguineus (s.l.) and their association with the genetic diversity of Ehrlichia canis in Pakistan.  A total of 235 female ticks of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (s.l) were collected from three districts of Pakistan. Bacterial and parasitic species in individual ticks were tested through Microfluidic real-time PCR by employing trp36 gene. 86% of the ticks were infected with one pathogen, 80% were co-infected with two and 20% were infected with three pathogens respectively. Rickettsia massiliae (human pathogen) and E. canis (zoonotic dog pathogen) were the most common pathogens co-infecting (30.4%) ticks. Low genetic diversity of E. canis was associated with high prevalence of this bacterium in R. sanguineus (s.l.) of Pakistan. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) revealed that single infections did not show clear regional association whereas some co-infections were restricted to certain geographical regions. This study reports that tick-borne pathogen co-infections are very common in R. sanguineus (s.l.) ticks from Pakistan. The high prevalence of co-infection with E. canis and R. massiliae in R. sanguineus (s.l.) suggests a synergism between the two bacterial pathogens which in turn potentially increases the likelihood of acquiring a third pathogen.

Speaker Bio

Abdullah Ahmad, PhD, DVM, is a young researcher, working as Assistant professor of Parasitology in a Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Bahawalpur, Pakistan. His main work is based on molecular epidemiology of Ticks and Tick borne diseases of bovines and canines. Dr. Abdullah completed his PhD from UVAS, Pakistan and Melbourne University, Australia on Molecular epidemiology of Ticks and Tick borne diseases of farm dogs of Pakistan. He develop a Molecular Parasitology Laboratory in his institute and now he is working on zoonotic aspect of ticks. Dr. Abdullah has published good impact factor research articles in collaboration with well-known researcher from Australia and France as a leading author or as a coauthor in different scientific.

Session Chair: Maryam Fanian and Esa Karalliu.