In many areas of Africa, recent studies highlighted the great impact of ticks on animal and human health throughout the continent. On the other hand, very limited information on the bacterial endosymbionts of the African ticks and their pattern of co-infections with other bacteria are found in literature, notwithstanding their pivotal role in tick survival and vector efficiency. Thus, we investigated the distribution of selected pathogenic and symbiotic bacteria in hard ticks collected from wild, domestic animals and from vegetation in various ecological zones in Africa and their co-occurrence in the same tick host. Overall, 339 hard ticks were morphologically identified as belonging to the genera Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Hyalomma, Haemaphysalis, Ixodes and Rhipicephalus. Molecular screening provided information on pathogens circulation in Africa, detecting spotted fever group rickettsiae, Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia ruminantium, Borrelia garinii, Babesia spp., Theileria spp. and Coxiella burnetii. Furthermore, our work provides insights on the African scenario of tick-symbiont associations, revealing the presence of Coxiella, Francisella and Midichloria across multiple tick populations. Coxiella endosymbionts were the most prevalent microorganisms, and that with the broadest spectrum of hosts, being detected in 16 tick species. Francisella was highly prevalent among the Hyalomma species tested and correlated negatively with the presence of Coxiella, showing a potential competitive interaction. Interestingly, we detected a positive association of Francisella with Rickettsia in specimens of Hy. rufipes, suggesting a synergistic interaction between them. Finally, Midichloria was the most prevalent symbiont in Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato from Egypt.

在非洲的许多地区，最近的研究强调了tick对整个非洲大陆动物和人类健康的巨大影响。另一方面，尽管文献在非洲tick的细菌内共生体以及它们与其他细菌的共感染模式方面的信息非常有限，但它们在tick的存活和载体效率中起着关键作用。因此，我们调查了在非洲不同生态区的野生，家畜和植被中采集的硬tick中选定的病原菌和共生细菌的分布，以及它们在同一tick宿主中同时存在。总体上，在形态上鉴定出339个硬壁虱属于Amblyomma，Dermacentor，Hyalomma，血ema，硬x和Rhipicephalus。分子筛选非洲提供病原体流通信息，检测斑点热群立克次体，无形体属，埃立克体反刍，疏螺旋体garinii，巴贝斯虫属，泰勒虫属。和Coxiella burnetii。此外，我们的工作提供了蜱共生协会的非洲情况的见解，揭示了存在的贝氏，弗朗西斯和Midichloria跨多个剔人群。柯氏杆菌内共生菌是最普遍的微生物，并且具有最广泛的宿主谱系，在16种壁虱物种中被检测到。弗朗西斯菌在测试的透明质酸物种中高度流行，并且与Coxiella的存在呈负相关，显示出潜在的竞争相互作用。有趣的是，我们在Hy样本中检测到Francisella与立克次体呈正相关。rufipe，表明它们之间存在协同作用。最后，中氯是来自埃及的Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato中最普遍的共生体。