BACKGROUND AND ABJECTIVENowadays many emerging zoonotic microbial diseases are threatening public health. Rickettsiosis, which is caused by different species of rickettsiae is mostly transmitted by Rhipicephalus sanguines and
Rhipicephalus turanicus and Rickettsia massillie and
Rickettsia sibirica are among the most prevalent and pathogenic rickettsia all around the world. Rickettsiosis in humans and animals may cause general symptoms such as subcutaneous bleeding, muscle pain, fever and other symptoms. Considering the numerous reports of human infections and also the frequency of domestic and wild animals with tick infestation, it is necessary to investigate the prevalence of the disease in provinces such as Kerman with confirmed cases of human infection. Recently, wild urbanized animals such as hedgehogs have come close to urban areas due to their territory destruction and ecosystem changes, and have been considered as potent reservoirs for many zoonotic diseases.MATERIALS AND METHODSIn this study, during six month period, long-eared and brandt’s hedgehogs were live-trapped, ۴۵ animals with severe tick infestation were selected as the study population, and their external parasites were isolated. After extracting their DNA, the samples were evaluated using Rickettsia specific primers and real time PCR technique.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONFinally, out of a total of ۴۵ collected samples of isolated ticks (at least ۵ ticks from each hedgehog) ۵ pool samples (۱۱.۱۱%) were positive for Rickettsia genus including ۲ samples containing Rickettsia sibirica, ۲ samples containing
Rickettsia rhipicephali and one sample with
Rickettsia massiliae and
Rickettsia rhipicephali co-infection.CONCLUSIONConsidering the notable positive results of infected ticks collected from hedgehogs as free roaming animals it can be concluded that the investigation of animal reservoir’s for rickettsial agents in different parts of Iran is of great importance. The present study, can provide the basis for further investigation in this field as detection of main animal reservoirs are critical for suggestions of efficient control and prevention strategies.