First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants

Rickettsioses is a group of emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia caused by Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria in the Rickettsiae tribe. However, there is limited information regarding the vertebrate hosts of Rickettsia spp. in this region. This study aims to detect and identify...

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Main Authors: Low, Van Lun, Azhar, Siti Sarah, Tan, Tiong Kai, Bathmanaban, Premaalatha, Abu Bakar, Sazaly, Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam, Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza, Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah, Akma, Ngah Hamid, Norlizan, Mohd Noor, Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian
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Published: Springer 2022
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Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/41755/
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spelling my.um.eprints.417552023-11-20T09:04:32Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/41755/ First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants Low, Van Lun Azhar, Siti Sarah Tan, Tiong Kai Bathmanaban, Premaalatha Abu Bakar, Sazaly Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah Akma, Ngah Hamid Norlizan, Mohd Noor Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian RA Public aspects of medicine RC Internal medicine Rickettsioses is a group of emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia caused by Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria in the Rickettsiae tribe. However, there is limited information regarding the vertebrate hosts of Rickettsia spp. in this region. This study aims to detect and identify Rickettsia agents present in wildlife and domesticated animals in Malaysia using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequencing of citrate synthase gene (gltA), followed by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis. Rickettsia sp. was detected in 2 (0.67%) of 300 wildlife and domesticated animal blood samples. The positive samples were derived from a goat (5.56% of 18) and a sheep (2.22% of 45). Both sequences demonstrated 99.64% sequence similarity to Rickettsia asembonensis, a species that is known to infect humans and macaques. This study reported for the first time the detection of R. asembonensis in sheep and goats in Malaysian farms, suggesting this species may be adapting to a wider range of animals, specifically farm animals. Therefore, this bacterium may pose a zoonotic threat to the local community particularly to the farmworkers or animal handlers. The low infection rate of this pathogen across different animals highlighted the need of continuous surveillance of emerging and reemerging pathogens among animal populations. Springer 2022-09 Article PeerReviewed Low, Van Lun and Azhar, Siti Sarah and Tan, Tiong Kai and Bathmanaban, Premaalatha and Abu Bakar, Sazaly and Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam and Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza and Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah and Akma, Ngah Hamid and Norlizan, Mohd Noor and Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian (2022) First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants. Veterinary Research Communications, 46 (3). pp. 979-983. ISSN 0165-7380, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-09904-9 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-09904-9>. 10.1007/s11259-022-09904-9
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic RA Public aspects of medicine
RC Internal medicine
spellingShingle RA Public aspects of medicine
RC Internal medicine
Low, Van Lun
Azhar, Siti Sarah
Tan, Tiong Kai
Bathmanaban, Premaalatha
Abu Bakar, Sazaly
Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam
Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza
Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah
Akma, Ngah Hamid
Norlizan, Mohd Noor
Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian
First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
description Rickettsioses is a group of emerging infectious diseases in Southeast Asia caused by Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria in the Rickettsiae tribe. However, there is limited information regarding the vertebrate hosts of Rickettsia spp. in this region. This study aims to detect and identify Rickettsia agents present in wildlife and domesticated animals in Malaysia using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequencing of citrate synthase gene (gltA), followed by genotyping and phylogenetic analysis. Rickettsia sp. was detected in 2 (0.67%) of 300 wildlife and domesticated animal blood samples. The positive samples were derived from a goat (5.56% of 18) and a sheep (2.22% of 45). Both sequences demonstrated 99.64% sequence similarity to Rickettsia asembonensis, a species that is known to infect humans and macaques. This study reported for the first time the detection of R. asembonensis in sheep and goats in Malaysian farms, suggesting this species may be adapting to a wider range of animals, specifically farm animals. Therefore, this bacterium may pose a zoonotic threat to the local community particularly to the farmworkers or animal handlers. The low infection rate of this pathogen across different animals highlighted the need of continuous surveillance of emerging and reemerging pathogens among animal populations.
format Article
author Low, Van Lun
Azhar, Siti Sarah
Tan, Tiong Kai
Bathmanaban, Premaalatha
Abu Bakar, Sazaly
Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam
Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza
Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah
Akma, Ngah Hamid
Norlizan, Mohd Noor
Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian
author_facet Low, Van Lun
Azhar, Siti Sarah
Tan, Tiong Kai
Bathmanaban, Premaalatha
Abu Bakar, Sazaly
Chandrawathani, Panchadcharam
Nizamuddin, Hassan Nizam Quaza
Hanim, Mohd Saeid Faizah
Akma, Ngah Hamid
Norlizan, Mohd Noor
Lim, Yvonne Ai Lian
author_sort Low, Van Lun
title First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
title_short First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
title_full First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
title_fullStr First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
title_full_unstemmed First report of Rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
title_sort first report of rickettsia asembonensis in small ruminants
publisher Springer
publishDate 2022
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/41755/
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