Search for Borrelia sp. in Ticks Collected from Potential Reservoirs in an Urban Forest Reserve in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil: a Short Report

Abstract

A total of 128 ticks of the genus Amblyomma   were recovered from 5 marsupials ( Didelphis albiventris   ) - with 4 recaptures - and 17 rodents (16 Bolomys lasiurus   and 1 Rattus norvegicus   ) captured in an urban forest reserve in Campo Grande, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Of the ticks collected, 95 (78.9%) were in larval form and 22 (21.1%) were nymphs; the only adult (0.8%) was identified as A. cajennense . Viewed under dark-field microscopy in the fourth month after seeding, 9 cultures prepared from spleens and livers of the rodents, blood of the marsupials, and macerates of Amblyomma sp. nymphs revealed spiral-shaped, spirochete-like structures resembling those of Borrelia   sp. Some of them showed little motility, while others were non-motile. No such structures could be found either in positive Giemsa-stained culture smears or under electron microscopy. No PCR amplification of DNA from those cultures could be obtained by employing Leptospira   sp., B. burgdorferi , and Borrelia sp. primers. These aspects suggest that the spirochete-like structures found in this study do not fit into the genera Borrelia or Leptospira, requiring instead to be isolated for proper identification