TY - JOUR AU - Solís-Hernández, Analilia AU - Rodríguez-Vivas, Roger Iván AU - Esteve-Gassent, María Dolores AU - Villegas-Pérez, Sandra Luz PY - 2018/03/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Detection de Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in dogs and its ticks in rural communities of Yucatán, Mexico JF - Revista de Biología Tropical JA - Rev. Biol. Trop. VL - 66 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.15517/rbt.v66i1.27776 UR - https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/article/view/27776 SP - 428–437 AB - <p>In Mexico, the distribution and the presence of pathogenic genospecies of <em>B. burgdorferi </em>in dogs and their ticks has not been extensively investigated. The study of canine borreliosis is acquiring greater relevance, since the dog is considered to be an important sentinel for pathogens pertaining to the complex <em>Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato</em>; in addition, dogs could be playing a key role in the spread of ticks from forested areas into the domestic environment. This study aimed to detect and estimate the prevalence of <em>B. burgdorferi s.l.</em> in dogs and their ticks in two rural communities of Yucatán, Mexico. In each community, 50 houses were visited, where 144 blood samples from dogs were studied by puncture of the saphenous vein, as well as the collection of their ticks. To detect the presence of <em>B. burgdorferi s.l.</em> in these samples, the conserved gene <em>flaB</em>, <em>p66</em> and <em>ospC</em> were PCR amplified. A total of 144 dog blood samples, and 846 of ticks were obtained from the examined animals. Considering tick species, <em>Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato</em> (786 / 846) was common, while <em>Ixodes affinis</em> (33 / 846), and <em>Amblyomma mixtum</em> (27 / 846) resulted less frequent. As per gene conservation, the prevalence of <em>B. burgdorferi</em> in canine blood was 17.3 % (25 / 144) to <em>flaB</em>, 12.50 % (18 / 144) for <em>p66</em> and 1.38 % (2 / 144) for the <em>ospC</em> gene. Within the analyzed ticks, <em>R. sanguineus s.l</em>. had a prevalence of 0.89 %, <em>A. mixtum</em> 5.88 % and <em>I. affinis</em> 15.15 %, being this last species the one that presented higher prevalence. Two dogs and their ticks <em>I. affinis</em> were positive to the <em>flaB</em> gene. Only a tick <em>R. sanguineus s.l.</em> was positive to the gene <em>p66</em> and no tick species was positive the <em>ospC</em> gene. This study confirmed the existence of <em>B. burgdorferi s.l.</em> in dogs and their ticks in rural communities of Yucatán, Mexico. The detection of <em>Borrelia</em> in dogs may be an important criterion for the evaluation of the risk of borreliosis in humans, since the dog can be used as an epidemiological indicator for the identification of new outbreaks of this disease.</p> ER -