First Confirmed Infection ofRickettsia Tarasevichiae in Rodents Collected from Northeastern China.

Abstract

To date, there have been few investigations onRickettsia tarasevichiae in rodents carried out in China. In this study, we conducted surveillance forR. tarasevichiae infection in rodents. A total of 463 rodents were captured at five survey sites in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, whereR. tarasevichiae patients have been reported. PCR targeting citrate synthase and outer membrane protein genes was performed and positive amplicons were sequenced.R. tarasevichiae was detected in 1.29% of the 463 rodents sampled from the five survey sites in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province. Only 2 out of 13 (15.38%)and 4 out of 80 (5%)collected from Dashigou forestry were positive for theandgenes ofR. tarasevichiae DNA. The detectedR. tarasevichiae was in the same clade of sequences from patients in Mudanjiang based on phylogenetic analysis.Rodents are major host of ticks and also serve as reservoirs of spotted fever group (SFG). Although this is the first confirmation ofR. tarasevichiae detected in rodents in China, further investigations are needed to clarify the distribution ofR. tarasevichiae in rodents elsewhere and what role they play as reservoirs.