Fig 1.
The map of Kenya showing the sampling sites in Laisamis in Marsabit County.
The following shapefiles were utilised on the map together with the websites where the data was sourced: Kenya administrative boundaries– https://africaopendata.org/dataset/kenya-counties-shapefile; License: https://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by. Rivers–(ke_major-rivers.zip) https://www.wri.org/resources/data-sets/kenya-gis-data; License:https://www.wri.org/publications/permissions-licensing. All the websites used were under the Creative commons BY 4.0. No base map was used to create the map.
Table 1.
Primers for PCR amplification.
Fig 2.
Hippobosca camelina was present: (i) in all of the camel herds surveyed, (ii) throughout the year, and (iii) nearly all camels in the herds were infested by keds.
Fig 3.
Baseline survey data of livestock keds in Laisamis, northern Kenya.
(A) Ked infestation in domestic animals. Hippobosca camelina, that spends its adult life attached on the host, was predominantly found on camels, indicating its camel-specific preference. However, in rare instances, about 1 to 3 H. camelina flies were collected from sheep and goat herds that were co-herded with camels (but not found on other livestock species studied here). Highest mean ked infestation was recorded on camels, followed by dogs, and then donkeys. (B) The influence of host age and sex on the preference of keds to infest camels. Mature camels had higher average numbers of keds as compared to the young camels. Camel sex did not influence ked infestation (p = 0.5508). (C) Seasonal variations of ked infestations on camels. The highest numbers of keds were recorded on camels during dry season followed by late wet season. The lowest ked numbers were recorded on the camels during the wet season. (D)Proportions of male and female keds on camels. The proportion of female keds was higher than the male flies sampled across the three seasons.
Fig 4.
Field’s staining showing Anaplasma sp. infections in representative thin film blood smears.
(A) Naturally infected dromedary camel, (B) Experimental mouse exposed to ked bites, (C) Experimental rabbit post-ked bites. Green arrows point to Anaplasma sp., magnification x100.
Fig 5.
PCR—HRM melt curves for detection of Anaplasma sp. in mice, camels, and keds.
DNA sequencing identified Anaplasma sp. in camels (A & C), keds (B & D), and mice (both healthy- E and immunosuppressed mice- F) as ‘Ca. Anaplasma camelii’.
Table 2.
Summary of Anaplasma infection in test mice and rabbits.
Fig 6.
Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree of 1000-bp Anaplasma sp. 16S rRNA sequences.
The sequences obtained from this study are shown in pink and blue colours and bootstrap values at the major nodes are the percentage agreement with 1000 bootstrap replicates. Wolbachia endosymbiont KJ814215 (family Anaplasmataceae) was included in the tree as outgroup.