Ngnindji-Youdje Y. auteur aut IRD Diarra Adama Zan auteur aut IRD Lontsi-Demano M. auteur aut IRD Tchuinkam T. auteur aut IRD Parola P. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access This study aimed to detect and identify microorganisms in ticks collected in the Western Highlands of Cameroon. Quantitative real-time and standard PCR assays, coupled with sequencing, were used. A total of 944 ticks collected from cattle in five distinct sites in Cameroon were selected for the analyses. They belonged to five genera (Amblyomma, Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus, Haemaphysalis, and Ixodes) and twelve species. Real-time PCR revealed that 23% (n = 218) of the ticks were positive for Rickettsia spp., 15% (n = 141) for bacteria of the Anaplasmataceae family, 3% (n = 29) for Piroplasmida, 0.5% (n = 5) for Coxiella burnetii, 0.4% (n = 4) for Borrelia spp., and 0.2% (n = 2) for Bartonella spp. The co-infection rate (3.4%, n = 32) involved mainly Rickettsia spp. and Anaplasmataceae. Of the Rickettsia spp. positive ticks, the targeted PCR and sequencing yielded Rickettsia africae (78.9%), Rickettsia aeschlimannii (6.4%), Rickettsia massiliae (7.8%), Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae (0.9%), and Rickettsia sp. (0.9%). Anaplasmataceae included Anaplasma marginale (4.3%), Anaplasma platys (1.4%), Anaplasma centrale (0.7%), Ehrlichia ruminantium (0.7%), Wolbachia sp., Candidatus Ehrlichia rustica (13.5%), Candidatus Ehrlichia urmitei (7%), and an uncultured Ehrlichia sp. (4.2%). Borrelia theileri was identified in one Rhipicephalus microplus tick. Unfortunately, Piroplasmida could not be identified to the species level. This study demonstrates that in Cameroon, ticks harbour a wide variety of microorganisms and present a risk of zoonotic diseases. specialized tick-borne pathogen zoonoses cattle ticks PCR Cameroon CAMEROUN 052 080 10 10 1957 [15 ] 2022 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010086421 10.3390/microorganisms10101957 [F B010086421] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010086421 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2022-12/010086421.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2022-12-09 2025-02-24 fdi:010086421 fre