Prevalence of Anaplasma, Bartonella and Borrelia Species in Haemaphysalis longicornis collected from goats, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is located on the northern part of the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. While tick-borne pathogens of medical and veterinary importance have been reported from China and the Republic of Korea, they have not been reported from the DPRK. To screen for zoonotic tick-borne pathogens in the DPRK, ticks were collected from domestic goats. A total of 292 (27 nymph, 26 male, 239 female) Haemaphysalis longicornis were collected and assayed individually for selected tick-borne pathogens. Using the 16S ribosomal RNA and ITS species-specific nested PCR, a total of 77 (26.4%) were positive for Anaplasma bovis, followed by Bartonella grahamii (15, 5.1%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (12, 4.1%), Bartonella henselae (10, 3.4%), and Borrelia spp. (3, 1.0%). Using the groEL-based nested PCR, a total of 6 and 1 H. longicornis were positive for B. grahamii and B. henselae. All products were sequenced and demonstrated 100% identity and homology with previously reported sequences from other countries in GenBank. This is the first report of the detection of tick-borne pathogens in the DPRK and suggests that farm animals may act as reservoirs for zoonotic tick-borne pathogens.