Distribution of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae in Select Tissues of Experimentally Infected and Field-Collected Gulf Coast Ticks

ORCID

Goddard: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2617-7141

MSU Affiliation

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology; College of Veterinary Medicine; Department of Basic Sciences

Creation Date

2026-09-30

Abstract

Salivary glands, midgut, Malpighian tubules, and ovaries were dissected from infected, colony-derived Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast ticks) injected as nymphs with either Rickettsia parkeri (a spotted fever group rickettsia [SFGR] ; treatment) or phosphate-buffered saline (negative control). For comparison, similar tissues were dissected from hemolymph-positive, field-collected ticks. Tissues were analyzed by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) tests. All phosphate-buffered saline-injected ticks were IFA negative, whereas SFGR were detected by IFA in 100% of the salivary glands and ovaries and 78 and 75% of midgut and Malpighian tubule samples, respectively, of R. parkeri-injected ticks. Nearly 22% (10/46) of the field-collected ticks were hemolymph positive. Of those, SFGR were detected by IFA in 80% of the salivary glands, 67% of the ovaries, and 60% in the midgut and Malpighian tubules. This is the first study to assess the distribution of SFGR in select tissues of A. maculatum ticks. © 2011 Entomological Society of America.

Keywords

Gulf Coast ticks, infection, Rickettsia, Rickettsia parkeri, spotted fever group

Publication Date

5-1-2011

Publication Title

Journal of Medical Entomology

Publisher

Oxford University Press; Entomological Society of America

First Page

687

Last Page

690

Rights

© 2011 Entomological Society of America

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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1603/ME10090