Table 2.
Identification of ticks removed from patients using morphological, MALDI-TOF MS, and molecular methods and the results of the detection of Rickettsia, Borrelia, Anaplasma, and Bartonella DNA
| Morphological identification | MALDI-TOF MS identification (score) | Molecular identification (% similarity with the indicated GenBank sequence) of:a |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Ticke | Bacteria | ||
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.83) | D. marginatus (99.3% AM410570.1) | |
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.798) | D. marginatus (99.4% AM410570.1) | |
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.799) | D. marginatus (99.4% AM410570.1) | R. slovacad, R. raoultiid |
| R. sanguineus | R. sanguineus (1.957) | R. sanguineus (99.1% JX206975.1) | R. massiliaed |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1,737) | I. ricinus (99.5% JN248424.1) | |
| Damaged | I. ricinus (1,376) | Not obtainedc | |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1.321) | I. ricinus (99.3% JN248424.1) | |
| Rhipicephalus sp. | Not identifiedb | R. bursa (100% AM410572.1) | |
| Ixodes sp. | I. ricinus (1.308) | I. ricinus (99.2% JM248424.1) | B. garinii (99.7% JN828689.1) |
| Rhipicephalus sp. | R. sanguineus (2.117) | R. sanguineus (99.2% AY559843.1) | R. conoriid |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1.728) | I. ricinus (99.7% JN248424.1) | A. phagocytophilumd |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1.823) | I. ricinus (99.2% JN248424.1) | |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1.641) | I. ricinus (99.06% AY945481.1) | Incompletely described bacterium (97.6% AY776167.1), B. miyamotoi (100% FJ874925.1) |
| I. ricinus | I. ricinus (1.668) | I. ricinus (100% JN248424.1) | |
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.83) | D. marginatus (99.3% AM410570.1) | |
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.798) | D. marginatus (99.4% AM410570.1) | R. slovacad, R. raoultiid |
| D. marginatus | D. marginatus (1.799) | D. marginatus (99.4% AM410570.1) | R. massiliaed |
a
DNA extracted from laboratory colonies of uninfected ticks was used as a negative control. DNA extracted from Rickettsia montanensis, Bartonella elizabethae, Borrelia crocidurae, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum was used as a positive control.
b
No R. bursa spectrum was available in our MALDI-TOF MS database.
c
After two attempts.
d
qPCR.
e
By 12S RNA sequencing.