A new Rickettsia species found in fleas collected from human dwellings and from domestic cats and dogs in Senegal.

Abstract

The insects of the order Siphonaptera, commonly named fleas, are vectors of pathogens around the world. Our previous studies showed that 4.4% of acute febrile diseases in the Sine-Saloum region of Senegal were due to Rickettsia felis. The aim of this study was to explain the high prevalence of R. felis infections in two rural Senegalese populations by an entomological, systematic monitoring protocol. A total of 232 fleas from three species (Ctenocephalides felis, Echidnophaga gallinacea, and Synosternus pallidus) were collected by candle trapping and manually from pets in the villages of Dielmo and Ndiop during the year 2010. The fleas were then tested for the presence of Bartonella and Rickettsia species. No fleas were found to be positive for any Bartonella species or R. felis. Surprisingly, we found that 91.4% of S. pallidus were infected by a new Rickettsia species, which, based on sequence analysis of gltA, ompB, and two fragments of rpoB, was found to be closely related to R. felis. The results from this study did not explain the high incidence of R. felis infections in these Senegalese populations.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Roucher C, Mediannikov O, Diatta G, Trape JF, Raoult D

Institution

Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes-URMITE, Dakar, Sénégal.

Source

Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) 12:5 2012 May pg 360-5

MeSH

Animals
Cat Diseases
Cats
DNA, Bacterial
DNA, Intergenic
Dog Diseases
Dogs
Ectoparasitic Infestations
Housing
Humans
Rickettsia
Senegal
Siphonaptera
Time Factors

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22214272