Molecular Detection and Identification of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae in Ticks Collected from the West Bank, Palestinian Territories

Tick-borne rickettsioses are caused by obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae. Although Spotted Fever is prevalent in the Middle East, no reports for the presence of tick-borne pathogens are available or any studies on the epidemiology of this disease in the West Bank. We aimed to identify the circulating hard tick vectors and genetically characterize SFG Rickettsia species in ixodid ticks from the West Bank-Palestinian territories.This study was funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands and NVHU under grant reference number 2014.52146 and USAID grant MERC TAMOU- 12-M32-038. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript