New evidence for the detection of ehrlichia and anaplasma in ixodes ticks in Russia and Kazakhstan

: Polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis were used to screen Ehrlichia and Anaplasma DNA in 900 specimens of Ixodes ticks of four genera (Dermacetor, Haemaphysalis, Ixodes, and Hyalomma) collected on 14 administrative territories of Russia and Kazakhstan. Anaplasma phagocytophilia DNA was detected and identified in Ixodes persulcatus ticks gathered in the Altai and Primorye Territories. Ehrlichia muris DNA was genotyped in the I. persulcatus ticks collected in the Tyumen, Omsk, and Novosibirsk Regions and the Altai Territory. Examining the Haemaphysalis concinna collected in the Primorye Territory revealed A. bovis DNA. The I. persulcatus ticks gathered in the Omsk Region were found to have "Ehrlichia-like "Schotti variant" DNA, Studying the ticks of the genera Dermatocentor and Hyalomma gathered in Russia and Kazakhstan failed to detect the representatives of the genera Anaplasma and Ehrlichia. The detection of A. phagocytophilia DNA in the I. persulcatus ticks in the Altai and Primorye territories and the serological verification of cases of human granulocytic anaplasmosis among patients with tick-borne infections in these territories lead to the conclusion that there are natural loci of this disease in West Siberia and the Far East of Russia.