Human infections with Rickettsia raoultii, China

Abstract

We used molecular methods to identify Rickettsia raoultii infections in 2 persons in China. These persons had localized rashes around sites of tick bites. R. raoultii DNA was detected in 4% of Dermacentor silvarum ticks collected in the same area of China and in 1 feeding tick detached from 1 patient.

Keywords: China; Dermacentor silvarum; Rickettsia raoultii; human infections; rickettsia; ticks; vector-borne infections.

Figure

Phylogenetic analysis of spotted fever group Rickettsia species, China, based on A) partial (341 bp) citrate synthase gene and B) partial (325 bp) 190-kDa outer membrane protein gene. Trees were obtained by using the neighbor-joining method, distances were calculated by using Kimura 2-parameter analysis, and analysis was conducted by using Mega 5.0 software (www.megasoftware.net/). Nucleotide sequences determined in this study are indicated in boldface. Percentage of replicate trees in which associated taxa clustered in the bootstrap test (1,000 replicates) is shown to the left of each branch. Trees are drawn to scale, and branch lengths have the same units as evolutionary distances used to infer the phylogenetic tree. GenBank accession numbers of sequences used in phylogenetic analysis are indicated in parentheses. Scale bars indicate nucleotide substitutions per site.