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Hence, this study was conducted to screen host-seeking ticks in the Western Ghats region, India, for the DNA of SFG <jats:italic>Rickettsia.<\/jats:italic> The ticks were collected from Kerala, Goa, and Maharashtra states of India during a survey conducted between November 2017 and January 2018. In total, 288 tick pools were screened for <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> spp. DNA using pan-<jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> real-time PCR, and conventional PCR targeting the <jats:italic>glt<\/jats:italic>A, <jats:italic>Omp<\/jats:italic>A and 17-kDa protein-coding genes. Nucleotide sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the NCBI BLAST tool to identify submitted sequences with higher homology. Neighbour-joining trees were constructed using the reference sequences of the GenBank database. Overall, <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> spp. DNA was detected in 27.2% (62\/228 pools) of host-seeking ticks across the Western Ghats region, with an estimated minimum infection rate of 0.057. Upon phylogenetic analysis, it was identified that the detected sequences were highly similar (&gt;\u200999% sequence homology) to <jats:italic>R. africae<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Candidatus<\/jats:italic> R. laoensis and an un-categorised <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> species, and they were widely carried by <jats:italic>Haemaphysalis<\/jats:italic> ticks. The current study is the first report of <jats:italic>R. africae<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Candidatus<\/jats:italic> R. laoensis in ticks in India. Although the pathogenicity of these species is not well documented, they may pose a potential threat to both animal and the human population in this geographical region.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10493-023-00814-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,23]],"date-time":"2023-06-23T04:19:11Z","timestamp":1687493951000},"page":"429-440","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Rickettsia africae and other unclassified Rickettsia species of the spotted fever group in ticks of the Western Ghats, India"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"90","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9420-1393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"N Naren","family":"Babu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anup","family":"Jayaram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amogh Milind","family":"Auti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuvraj","family":"Bhandari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ujwal","family":"Shetty","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3114-0415","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Govindakarnavar","family":"Arunkumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,22]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10","key":"814_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4493","DOI":"10.1128\/jb.170.10.4493-4500.1988","volume":"170","author":"BE Anderson","year":"1988","unstructured":"Anderson BE, Baumstark BR, Bellini WJ (1988) Expression of the gene encoding the 17-kilodalton antigen from Rickettsia rickettsii: transcription and posttranslational modification. 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