{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,12]],"date-time":"2026-09-12T07:55:34Z","timestamp":1789199734006,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,14]],"date-time":"2022-02-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1644796800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Africa Research Excellence Fund Fellowship","award":["MRF-157-0022-F-ELELU"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MRF-157-0022-F-ELELU"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ticks are of great menace to animal and human health. They serve as vectors to both animals and human pathogens including <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> species. Tick-borne rickettsiosis in West Africa remains incompletely understood. We determined the prevalence of tick infestation among small ruminants and molecularly described a clinically significant spotted fever <jats:italic>Rickettsia massiliae<\/jats:italic> from <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus<\/jats:italic> ticks collected from North-Central, Nigeria. A total of 352 small ruminants comprising of 152 sheep and 200 goats that were brought for slaughter at the major small ruminant slaughterhouse in Ilorin were examined for the presence of ticks. The collected <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus<\/jats:italic> species were subjected to molecular studies to detect and characterize <jats:italic>Rickettsia massiliae<\/jats:italic>. Of the small ruminants examined, 21 sheep and 46 goats were infested with ticks representing 13.82% and 23.00% respectively. Eight and nine different species of ticks were detected in sheep and goats respectively, with <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Boophilus<\/jats:italic>) <jats:italic>decoloratus<\/jats:italic> being the most prevalent tick species in both sheep and goats. There was a significant difference (p &lt;0.01) in the prevalence of the different tick species collected in sheep and in goats. Based on the PCR amplification of the 23S-5S intergenic spacer (IGS), only 2 of the 142 <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus<\/jats:italic> tick samples screened for <jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>massiliae<\/jats:italic> were positive (1.41%; 95% CI = 0.39\u20134.99). <jats:italic>Rickettsia massiliae<\/jats:italic> was detected from <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus turanicus<\/jats:italic> collected from sheep. Sequences obtained from the PCR carried out by amplifying <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> 23S-5S IGS showed 99\u2013100% close identity with members of the <jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>massiliae<\/jats:italic> group. This study has for the first time confirmed the presence of spotted fever group <jats:italic>Rickettsia massiliae<\/jats:italic> from feeding ticks in Nigerian small ruminants. Further investigations to determine the possible pathogenic role of human <jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>massiliae<\/jats:italic> infection in Nigeria would be beneficial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0263843","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,14]],"date-time":"2022-02-14T18:32:06Z","timestamp":1644863526000},"page":"e0263843","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Prevalence of tick infestation and molecular characterization of spotted fever Rickettsia massiliae in Rhipicephalus species parasitizing domestic small ruminants in north-central Nigeria"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Nusirat","family":"Elelu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2265-2494","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Shola David","family":"Ola-Fadunsin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adefolake Ayinke","family":"Bankole","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mashood Abiola","family":"Raji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ndudim Isaac","family":"Ogo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sally Jane","family":"Cutler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,14]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0263843.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.3923\/pjbs.2015.224.231","article-title":"Ectoparasites of Sheep (Ovis aries L.) and Goats (Capra hirus L.) in Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria","volume":"18","author":"KL Adang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Pak J Biol Sci"},{"key":"pone.0263843.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1016\/j.smallrumres.2005.12.011","article-title":"Effect of ectoparasites on quality of pickled skins and their impact on the tanning industries in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia","volume":"69","author":"T Sertse","year":"2007","journal-title":"Small Rumin Res"},{"key":"pone.0263843.ref003","first-page":"61","volume-title":"Livestock Production. 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