Exotic ticks removed from German travelers

Abstract

We report the finding of five nymphs and three adult ticks attached to German tourists while traveling the American continents.All eight specimens were morphologically identified and confirmed genetically using the 16S rRNA gene and screenedfor Rickettsia spp. infections. Five tick species were identified: one Amblyomma mixtum nymph from Ecuador, one Amblyommavarium nymph from Colombia, three Amblyomma coelebs nymphs from Costa Rica, one Amblyomma americanummale from the USA, one Dermacentor andersoni female and one D. andersoni male from Canada. Tick-borne microorganismsscreening using the pan-Rickettsia-PCR resulted in two positive and six negative ticks. The A. mixtum nymph was positivefor Rickettsia amblyommatis, while the D. andersoni female was positive for Rickettsia peacockii.