Bioinformatics approach of Rickettsia rickettsii gene: is there evidence of the role of wildlife in the eco-epidemiology of Rocky Mountain spotted fever?

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an emerging zoonotic disease of high lethality, first discovered in the United States and distributed in Central and South America, is transmitted mainly by ticks and caused by Rickettsia... [ view full abstract ]

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an emerging zoonotic disease of high lethality, first discovered in the United States and distributed in Central and South America, is transmitted mainly by ticks and caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, an obligate intracellular coccobacillus with a genome highly conserved; which infects a variety of hosts, including small and medium wild mammals and livestock, which play an important role in transmission to humans. The aim was to identify gene sequences and the complete genomes of Rickettsia rickettsii, the detection place, at country level; vectors and hosts associated with emphasis on wild animals by collecting and analyzing the information contained in the Nucleotide NCBI / GenBank, as a contribution to the eco-epidemiology of the disease. A total of 899 nucleotide sequences, 19 complete genomes, 85 patented sequences and 119 genes were found, the most reported: gltA (conserved in all species of Rickettsia), tRNA (implicated in protein coding) and ompA / ompB (involved in adhesion and virulence); the main detection places were the United States (60,15%) and Brazil (27,91%), the Amblyomma ticks were the principal vector, identified only 22,67% of the hosts, among which only 1,68% involved wild species, such as capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Although the disease caused by R. rickettsii is widely studied in humans, dogs and other domesticated species, have not been taken into account wild amplifier hosts in the dynamics of the disease, at least from genomics and bioinformatics perspective, and because the importance of their ecological role in tick-borne diseases, necessitating the development of studies to reduce the gaps in information on eco-epidemiological aspects and improve diagnostic tools, prevention and control by analyzing consensus sequences.