First Detection of Rickettsia Felis in Ctenocephalides Felis Fleas Parasitizing Rats in Cyprus

Psaroulaki, Anna; Αντωνίου, Μαρία; Papaeustathiou, Andreas; Toumazos, Paul; Loukaides, Feidias; Tselentis, Yannis

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2006.74.120

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results confirm R. typhi in a known flea vector of murine typhus in a highly disease-endemic region of East Java, Indonesia (11,13). R. felis has been shown to infect fleas of peridomestic rodents (7,8) and fleas other than C. felis (1,5,14). However our report is the first of R. felis naturally infecting X. cheopis fleas, a vector of plague and murine typhus.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Jiang¹,

Soeatmadji²,

Henry³

et al. 2006

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rickettsia typhi and R. felis, etiologic agents of murine typhus and fleaborne spotted fever, respectively, were detected in Oriental rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) collected from rodents and shrews in Java, Indonesia. We describe the first evidence of R. felis in Indonesia and naturally occurring R. felis in Oriental rat fleas.M urine typhus (endemic typhus, fleaborne typhus), caused by Rickettsia typhi, is transmitted to humans by infected fleas and is relatively common wherever susceptible rodent hosts reside (1). Fleaborne spotted fever (cat flea typhus), caused by Rickettsia felis, is another zoonotic disease carried by fleas and appears to have an equally wide, cosmopolitan distribution; human infections with R. felis have a clinical syndrome similar to that of murine typhus (1-4). The cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, has been identified as the primary arthropod vector of R. felis in North and South America (United States, Mexico, Peru, Brazil), Europe (Spain, France, United Kingdom, Cyprus), Africa (Gabon, Ethiopia), Asia (Thailand, Afghanistan, Israel), Australia, and New Zealand (1,5-10). We describe the first evidence of R. felis in Indonesia and apparent natural infections of R. felis in the Oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, implicating this flea species for the first time as a potential vector for fleaborne spotted fever. The StudySamples of X. cheopis were collected from 39 live-captured, peridomestic rodents and shrews from 3 localities in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, during an epidemiologic study conducted in 1994 (11). In this study the fleas were reidentified by using morphologic criteria, stored in fresh 70% ethanol, and subsequently evaluated for the presence of rickettsial DNA. DNA sample preparations were derived from triturates of 103 individual fleas in 100 µL PrepManUltra sample preparation reagent (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). DNA preparations of 1 to 5 fleas collected from the same rodent were pooled for testing. Reaction mixtures for the quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assays had a total volume of 25 µL and contained 3 µL DNA template. The master mixes were prepared for the 17-kDa Rickettsia-, R. typhi-and R. felis-specific qPCR assays in a separate, clean (DNA-free) room as previously described (6,12). The primer and probe sequences for the 17-kDa Rickettsia-specific and R. felis-specific assays have been reported (6,11). The R. typhi forward (Rt557F: 5′-TGG TAT TAC TGC TCA ACA AGC T-3′) and reverse (Rt678R: 5′-CAG TAA AGT CTA TTG ATC CTA CAC C-3′) primers and probe (Rt640BP: 5′-TET-CGC GAT CGT TAA TAG CAG CAC CAG CAT TAT CGC G-DABCYL-3′) sequences are listed here. Included in each run were 3 negative controls (GIBCO Ultrapure DNA-free distilled water, Invitrogen Corporation, Grand Island, NY, USA), 1 produced in the clean room and 2 in a biosafety cabinet in another laboratory where DNA templates were added. A TOPO TA plasmid (Invitrogen Corporation) that contained the target sequence at 10 3 copies for each assay was used as a positive control. qPCR reactions w...

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Jiang¹,

Soeatmadji²,

Henry³

et al. 2006

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The biology of these species is not well known in Korea and may reflect host and/or ectoparasite reproductive seasonal differences. The PCR techniques used in our study for detection of R. typhi (Webb et al, 1990) have been used for identifying Rickettsia pathogens in the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, from various countries throughout the world, including Cyprus (Psaroulaki et al, 2006), Mexico (Zavala-Castro et al, 2005), Peru (Blair et al, 2004), Afghanistan (Marie et al, 2006), USA (Reeves et al, 2005), and Israel (Bauer et al, 2006). Positive pools found in this study were observed from fleas taken only from A. agrarius that were negative by IFA for R. typhi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Rickettsia Typhi and Seasonal Prevalence of Fleas Collected From Small Mammals in the Republic of Korea

Kim

Yang

Chong

et al. 2010

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:Fleas were collected from live-captured small mammals to identify potential fleaborne pathogens, seasonal prevalence of flea species, and host preference as part of the US military rodent-borne diseases surveillance program conducted at one US military installation and 10 military training sites, northern Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea. During 2003-04, 948 fleas (563 females and 385 males) were recovered from 2,742 small mammals (seven rodent and one insectivore species). Apodemus agrarius (striped field mouse) accounted for 88.9% (2,439/2,742) of the small mammals, followed by Crocidura lasiura (4.2%), Mus musculus (2.9%), Microtus fortis (2.2%), Myodes regulus (0.6%), Micromys minutus (0.5%), Tscherskia triton (0.5%), and Rattus norvegicus (0.3%). Small mammal infestation rates (number with fleas/number captured) ranged from 7.7% (M. minutus and T. triton) to 31.3% (M. regulus). Flea indices were highest for M. regulus (0.69/captured rodent), followed by C. lasiura (0.54), M. fortis (0.41), A. agrarius (0.34), and R. norvegicus (0.33). Overall, Ctenophthalmus congeneroides (51.3%) was more frequently collected, followed by Stenoponia sidimi (42.6%), Rhadinopsylla insolita (5.5%), Neopsylla bidentatiformis (0.4%), Rhadinopsylla concava (0.1%), and Doratopsylla coreana (0.1%). Ctenophthalmus congeneroides was more frequently collected from small mammals during the spring and summer, while S. sidimi was more frequently collected during the winter season. Rickettsia typhi, the causative agent of murine typhus, was detected in 3.2% of specimens (7/220 pools from 654 fleas; minimum field infection rate [number of positive pools/total number of fleas] was 1.1%).

show abstract

“…typhi had been considered to be the only fleaborne rickettsiosis present in Cyprus until 2006, when R. felis was detected in C. felis . 16 We report molecular detection and identification of R. typhi in X. cheopis and L. segnis collected from rats in Cyprus and the occurrence of R. felis in X. cheopis .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 However, the only recognized vector is the cat flea. 8 Other flea species such as C. canis , [17][18][19] Anomiopsyllus nudata , 20 Archaeopsylla erinacei , 16,21,22 Ctenophthalmus sp., 21 X. cheopis , 22,23 Pulex irritans , 18 and ticks and mites 8 have been implicated as alternative competent vectors of R . felis .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis in Xenopsylla cheopis and Leptopsylla segnis Parasitizing Rats in Cyprus

Christou

Psaroulaki²,

Αντωνίου³

et al. 2010

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fleas collected from rats during a three-year period (2000–2003) in 51 areas of all provinces of Cyprus were tested by molecular analysis to characterize the prevalence and identity of fleaborne rickettsiae. Rickettsia typhi, the causative agent of murine typhus, was detected in Xenopsylla cheopis (4%) and in Leptopsylla segnis (6.6%). Rickettsia felis was detected in X. cheopis (1%). This is the first report of R. typhi in X. cheopis and L. segnis from rats, in Cyprus, and the first report of R. felis in X. cheopis in Europe. The role of fleas (mainly X. cheopis) was confirmed in the epidemiologic cycle of murine typhus in Cyprus by interrelation of current results with those of previous studies. The geographic distribution of fleas coincided with the geographic distribution of the pathogen they can harbor, which emphasizes the potential risk of flea-transmitted infections in Cyprus.

show abstract

First Detection of Rickettsia Felis in Ctenocephalides Felis Fleas Parasitizing Rats in Cyprus

Cited by 34 publications

References 10 publications

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Detection of Rickettsia Typhi and Seasonal Prevalence of Fleas Collected From Small Mammals in the Republic of Korea

Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis in Xenopsylla cheopis and Leptopsylla segnis Parasitizing Rats in Cyprus

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About