Zoonotic tick-borne pathogens contribute to acute febrile illness in rural South Africa

项目摘要/摘要部分 人类60%以上的传染病是通过动物传播的，通常是通过节肢动物媒介传播的。在最近 多年来，媒介传播的病毒、细菌和寄生虫病在许多地区出现或重新出现，导致 全球健康和经济问题。这些疾病的生态和流行病学受到 病原菌、寄主和环境之间的相互关系。媒介传播的感染从 因此，野生动物水库物种对家畜或人类是主要关切。《马尼西一号健康》 建立了平台，以促进人/牲畜/野生动物界面的研究。姆尼西一家 社区是位于南非姆普马兰加省的一个农村贫困地区。这个 社区与包括克鲁格国家公园在内的野生动物保护区共享75%的边界，并提供 人类与家畜和野生动物相互作用的环境。汉斯·霍海森 野生动物研究站是一个设备齐全的现场实验室，使研究人员能够在现场处理样本。 社区支持研究活动和干预措施，以换取一系列与卫生相关的援助 区域。利用这种丰富的基础设施，我们计划测试一种假设，即相当大比例的非疟疾 姆尼西社区的急性发热病(AFI)可归因于壁虱传播的人畜共患病。我们早期的一些 研究结果表明，人畜共患疾病，特别是扁虱叮咬热、Q热和人类粒细胞无浆体病需要 在对姆尼西的发热病人进行护理的调查中予以考虑。为了解决这个问题， 我们计划在野生动物-牲畜-人类的界面上研究扁虱传播的病原体，并确定潜在的 这个社区发热性疾病的病原体。我们的第一个目标是测试人类患者的样本 在Mnisi社区的卫生诊所因存在人畜共患病而携带非疟疾AFI的世卫组织 病原体使用元基因组学方法。接下来，我们将分析扁虱的微生物群，以确定哪种扁虱- 传播的病原体正在社区中传播。我们认为扁虱是病原体的聚集地。 在社区中传播，因此将提供具有代表性的壁虱传播病原体样本。 在两个样本集中检测到的未知微生物将被确定为推定病原体。然后我们计划 为了检查一系列样本中斑点热群立克次体的存在，伯氏立克次体，A. 吞噬细胞性肺炎、巴尔通氏杆菌和任何其他重要的假定病原体。白头翁的遗传多样性 将对确认的生物体进行分析。还将确定推定的扁虱媒介(S)和宿主。 在此基础上，可以在农村社区实施诊断测试，以确保适当的干预和 造福人类健康福祉。这项提案的重点是南非的人畜共患壁虱传播疾病； 我们将扩大影响南非人类健康的人畜共患扁虱传播病原体的知识库 我们对生活在界面上的农村社区所面临的挑战的了解将得到加强。这 不仅对南非，而且对其他非洲国家都有价值。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT SECTION More than 60% of infectious diseases in humans are spread from animals, often by an arthropod vector. In recent years, vector-borne viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases have emerged or re-emerged in many regions causing global health and economic concerns. The ecology and epidemiology of these diseases are affected by the interrelations between the pathogen, the host and the environment. Vector-borne infections transmitted from wildlife reservoir species to domestic animals or humans are thus of major concern. The Mnisi One Health Platform was established to facilitate research at the cusp of human/livestock/wildlife interface. The Mnisi community is a rural, impoverished area that is situated in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The community shares 75% of its boundary with wildlife reserves, including the Kruger National Park, and provides an environment where there is interaction between humans and domestic and wild animals. The Hans Hoheisen Wildlife Research Station is a well-equipped laboratory on site enabling researchers to process samples on site. The community supports research activities and interventions in return for assistance in an array of health related areas. Using this rich infrastructure, we plan to test the hypothesis that a significant proportion of non-malarial acute febrile illness (AFI) in the Mnisi community can be attributed to tick-borne zoonoses. Some of our early findings suggest that zoonoses, particularly tick bite fever, Q fever and human granulocytic anaplasmosis need to be considered in the investigation of febrile patients presenting for care in Mnisi. In an effort to address this, we plan to study tick-borne pathogens at the wildlife-livestock-human interface, and to identify potential aetiological agents of febrile illnesses in this community. Our first goal is to test samples from human patients who present with non-malarial AFI at the health clinics in the Mnisi community for the presence of zoonotic pathogens using a metagenomic approach. Next we will analyze the microbiome of ticks to determine which tick- borne pathogens are circulating in the community. We believe that ticks act as a focal concentrator of pathogens circulating in the community, and therefore will provide a representative sampling of tick-borne pathogens. Unknown organisms that are detected in both sample sets will be identified as putative pathogens. We then plan to examine a range of samples for the presence of the spotted-fever group rickettsiae, C. burnetii, A. phagocytophilum, Bartonella spp and any other significant putative pathogens identified. The genetic diversity of the organisms identified will be analyzed. The putative tick vector(s) and reservoir hosts will also be identified. Based on this, diagnostic tests can be implemented in rural communities ensuring appropriate interventions and benefiting human health and well-being. This proposal focuses on zoonotic tick-borne diseases in South Africa; our knowledge base of zoonotic tick-borne pathogens impacting human health in South Africa will be expanded and our understanding of the challenges faced by rural communities living at the interface will be enhanced. This will be of value not only for South Africa, but also for other African countries.