Jingmen tick virus (JMTV) is an arbovirus with a multisegmented genome related to those
of unsegmented flaviviruses. The virus first described in Rhipicephalus microplus ticks collected in
Jingmen city (Hubei Province, China) in 2010 is associated with febrile illness in humans. Since
then, the geographic range has expanded to include Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, and Uganda.
However, the ecology of JMTV remains poorly described in Africa. We screened adult ticks (n = 4550,
718 pools) for JMTV infection by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Ticks
were collected from cattle (n = 859, 18.88%), goats (n = 2070, 45.49%), sheep (n = 1574, 34.59%),
and free-ranging tortoises (Leopard tortoise, Stigmochelys pardalis) (n = 47, 1.03%) in two Kenyan
pastoralist-dominated areas (Baringo and Kajiado counties) with a history of undiagnosed febrile
human illness. Surprisingly, ticks collected from goats (0.3%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.1–0.5),
sheep (1.8%, 95% CI 1.2–2.5), and tortoise (74.5%, 95% CI 60.9–85.4, were found infected with JMTV,
but ticks collected from cattle were all negative. JMTV ribonucleic acid (RNA) was also detected in
blood from tortoises (66.7%, 95% CI 16.1–97.7). Intragenetic distance of JMTV sequences originating
from tortoise-associated ticks was greater than that of sheep-associated ticks. Phylogenetic analyses
of seven complete-coding genome sequences generated from tortoise-associated ticks formed a
monophyletic clade within JMTV strains from other countries. In summary, our findings confirm
the circulation of JMTV in ticks in Kenya. Further epidemiological surveys are needed to assess the
potential public health impact of JMTV in Kenya.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : Sequences generated were deposited to GenBank under accession numbers ON158817–ON158867, ON186499–ON186526, ON220154–ON220159 and ON212401–ON212405.
Other data presented in the study are available in the article and as supplements.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL : FIGURE S1. Phylogenetic relationship of Amblyomma ticks collected from tortoises (that could not be identified at the species level using morphological keys), and other Amblyomma congeners, FIGURE S2. JMTV distance matrix, FIGURE S3. Jingmenviruses distance matrixes, TABLE S1: Primers, probes and PCR conditions used in the study [38,55,56], TABLE S2: Sequences generated in this study submitted to GenBank, TABLE S3: Relative abundance of ticks sampled from different hosts.The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Germany; a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through the icipe ARPPISDAAD scholarship; a UP postgraduate bursary; a Wellcome Trust International Intermediate Fellowship; the Norad-funded project Combatting Arthropod Pests for better Health, Food and Climate Resilience; Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and the Government of the Republic of Kenya.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/virusesam2023Zoology and Entomolog
