Molecular investigation of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus in ticks

Ticks are obligatory blood-sucking ectoparasites and known as the vectors of many deadly diseases. Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) virus is an important tick-borne virus in the family Bunyaviridae, genus Nairovirus. In our study, the total of 228 mature ticks were collected from farm animals in the region of Kutahya and the identifications of these species were made in the laboratory. A total of six species belong to Hyalomma marginatum, Dermacentor marginatus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus were identified. 88 pools were consisted accordance with these species and genders. Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and Nested-PCR were used in order to identify the virus and to determine the S segment sequence of the virus from the pools. The presence of CCHF virus was only detected in 10 pools consisted from H. marginatum. As a result of the phylogenetic analysis of the positive isolates, it was determined that CCHF viruses isolated in this study clustered together with the strains predetermined in Southwestern Russia, Kosovo and Turkey.