The spotted fever group (SFG) of Rickettsia are zoonotic disease-causing pathogens, commonly transmitted by hard ticks to a wide range of hosts, including humans. Rickettsia conorii is the common SFG recognised in India, whereas most of the infections due to other group species go undifferentiated at the species level. Hence, this study was conducted to screen host-seeking ticks in the Western Ghats region, India, for the DNA of SFG Rickettsia. The ticks were collected from Kerala, Goa, and Maharashtra states of India during a survey conducted between November 2017 and January 2018. In total, 288 tick pools were screened for Rickettsia spp. DNA using pan-Rickettsia real-time PCR, and conventional PCR targeting the gltA, OmpA and 17-kDa protein-coding genes. Nucleotide sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis using the NCBI BLAST tool to identify submitted sequences with higher homology. Neighbour-joining trees were constructed using the reference sequences of the GenBank database. Overall, Rickettsia spp. DNA was detected in 27.2% (62/228 pools) of host-seeking ticks across the Western Ghats region, with an estimated minimum infection rate of 0.057. Upon phylogenetic analysis, it was identified that the detected sequences were highly similar (> 99% sequence homology) to R. africae, Candidatus R. laoensis and an un-categorised Rickettsia species, and they were widely carried by Haemaphysalis ticks. The current study is the first report of R. africae and Candidatus R. laoensis in ticks in India. Although the pathogenicity of these species is not well documented, they may pose a potential threat to both animal and the human population in this geographical region.

立克次体斑疹热组 (SFG)是人畜共患疾病病原体，通常通过硬蜱传播给包括人类在内的广泛宿主。康氏立克次体是印度公认的常见 SFG，而大多数由其他群体物种引起的感染在物种水平上没有分化。因此，本研究旨在筛选印度西高止山脉地区寻找宿主的蜱虫的 SFG立克次体 DNA。这些蜱虫是在 2017 年 11 月至 2018 年 1 月期间进行的一项调查中从印度喀拉拉邦、果阿邦和马哈拉施特拉邦收集的。总共对 288 个蜱池进行了立克次氏体筛查。使用泛立克次体实时 PCR 和针对glt A、Omp A 和 17-kDa 蛋白质编码基因的常规 PCR 检测 DNA。使用NCBI BLAST工具对核苷酸序列进行系统发育分析，以鉴定具有较高同源性的提交序列。使用 GenBank 数据库的参考序列构建邻接树。总体而言，立克次体属。在西高止山脉地区 27.2%（62/228 池）的寻找宿主蜱中检测到 DNA，估计最低感染率为 0.057。系统发育分析表明，检测到的序列与R. africae、Candidatus R. laoensis和未分类的立克次体种高度相似（>99%序列同源性），并且广泛由血蜱蜱携带。目前的研究是印度蜱中首次报道非洲蜱和老挝蜱。尽管这些物种的致病性没有得到充分记录，但它们可能对该地理区域的动物和人类构成潜在威胁。