Distribution of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae in Hard Ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae) from Panamanian Urban and Rural Environments (2007–2013) Sergio E. Bermu ´ dez, 1,2 Ange ´lica M. Castro, 1 Diomedes Trejos, 2,3 Gleydis G. Garcı ´a, 1 Amanda Gabster, 1 Roberto J. Miranda, 1 Yamitzel Zaldı´var, 1 and Luis E. Paternina 2,4,5,6 1 Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud, Panama, Panama 2 Grupo de Estudios con Ectopara ´sitos, Panama, Panama 3 Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses, Panama, Panama 4 Grupo BIOGEM, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota ´, Colombia 5 Grupo Centauro, Universidad de Antioquia, Antioquia, Colombia 6 Grupo de Investigaciones Biome ´dicas, Universidad de Sucre, Sincelejo, Colombia Abstract: Tick-borne rickettsiosis is an important emerging disease in Panama; to date, there have been 12 confirmed cases, including eight fatalities. To evaluate the distribution of rickettsiae in Panamanian ticks, we collected questing and on-host ticks in urban and rural towns in elevations varying between 0 and 2300 m. A total of 63 sites (13 urban and 50 rural towns) were used to develop models of spatial distributions. We found the following tick species: Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. (present in 54 of 63 towns and cities), Amblyomma mixtum (45/63), Dermacentor nitens (40/63), A. ovale (37/63), Rhipicephalus microplus (33/63), A. oblon- goguttatum (33/63), Ixodes affinis (3/63), and Ixodes boliviensis (2/63). Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. was present in urban and rural towns, and other species were present only in rural towns. DNA was extracted from 408 R. sanguineus s.l., 387 A. mixtum, 103 A. ovale, and 11 A. oblongoguttatum and later tested for rickettsiae genes using PCR. Rickettsia DNA was detected in ticks from 21 of 63 localities. Rickettsia rickettsii was detected in five A. mixtum (1.29%), and Candidatus ‘‘Rickettsia amblyommii’’ was found in 138 A. mixtum (35%), 14 R. sanguineus (3.4%), and one A. ovale (0.9%). These results suggest that much of rural Panama is suitable for the expansion of tick populations and could favor the appearance of new tick-borne rickettsiosis outbreaks. Keywords: ixodidae, spatial distribution model, Rickettsia spp., molecular surveillance, Panama INTRODUCTION Ticks are a group of blood-feeding arachnids that parasitize all classes of terrestrial vertebrates (Labruna et al. 2005). Although ticks are not naturally associated with humans, they constitute the second most important group of arthropods in relevance to human health. Ticks are trans- mitters of a diverse array of zoonotic agents, including Lyme disease, tick-borne hemorrhagic fevers, ehrlichiosis, or rickettsiosis (TBR) (Telford and Goethert 2008; Wil- liamson et al. 2010). The ecology of this zoonosis depends Correspondence to: Sergio E. Bermu ´ dez, e-mail: bermudezsec@gmail.com EcoHealth DOI: 10.1007/s10393-016-1118-8 Original Contribution Ó 2016 International Association for Ecology and Health