Molecular detection of Bartonella spp. in deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) in Poland

Abstract

BackgroundThe bacteria of the genus Bartonella are obligate parasites of vertebrates. Their distribution range covers almost the entire world from America, Europe, Asia to Africa and Australia. Some species of Bartonella are pathogenic for humans. Their main vectors are blood-sucking arthropods such as fleas, ticks and blood-feeding flies. One such dipteran able to transfer vector-borne pathogens is the deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) of the family Hippoboscidae. This species acts as a transmitter of Bartonella spp. in cervid hosts in Europe.MethodsIn the present study, 217 specimens of deer ked (Lipoptena cervi) were collected from 26 red deer (Cervus elaphus) hunted in January 2014. A short fragment (333 bp) of the rpoB gene was used as a marker to identify Bartonella spp. in deer ked tissue by PCR test. A longer fragment (850 bp) of the rpoB gene was amplified from 21 of the positive samples, sequenced and used for phylogenetic analysis.ResultsThe overall prevalence of Lipoptena cervi infection with Bartonella spp. was 75.12% (163/217); 86.67% (104/120) of females and 60.82% (59/97) of males collected from red deer hunted in the Strzałowo Forest District in Poland (53°45′57.03″N, 21°25′17.79″E) were infected. The nucleotide sequences from 14 isolates (Bartonella sp. 1) showed close similarity to Bartonella schoenbuchensis isolated from moose blood from Sweden (GenBank: KB915628) and human blood from France (GenBank: HG977196); Bartonella sp. 2 (5 isolates) and Bartonella sp. 3 (one isolate) were similar to Bartonella sp. from Japanese sika deer (GenBank: AB703149), and Bartonella sp. 4 (one isolate) was almost identical to Bartonella sp. isolated from Japanese sika deer from Japan (GenBank: AB703146).ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to confirm the presence of Bartonella spp. in deer keds (Lipoptena cervi) in Poland by molecular methods. Bartonella sp. 1 isolates were most closely related to B. schoenbuchensis isolated from moose from Sweden and human blood from France. The rest of our isolates (Bartonella spp. 2–4) were similar to Bartonella spp. isolated from Japanese sika deer from Japan.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13071-017-2413-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Combination of microbiome analysis and serodiagnostics to assess the risk of pathogen transmission by ticks to humans and animals in central Germany

“…was detectable indicating that these negative ticks cleared the infection or that there were not enough pathogens in the ticks to be detected by the applied PCRs. The deer ked ( Lipoptena cervi ) is suspected to be the main vector for B. schoenbuchensis [22, 23, 30, 63–65] and represents a common ectoparasite of roe deer and other cervids [2] which serve as reservoir hosts for the ruminant-associated B. schoenbuchensis , B. capreoli , B. chomelii and B. bovis [22–29, 66]. It remains unclear to which extent these Bartonella spp.…”

The northernmost record of a blood-sucking ectoparasite, Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), in Estonia

“…and Rickettsia spp. (Hornok et al 2011, Lee et al 2016, Szewczyk et al 2017, Regier et al 2018). Therefore, precise species identification, distribution details and bionomics are of utmost importance from the animal and human health perspective and imperative for vector control.…”

Microbiome Analysis Reveals the Presence of Bartonella spp. and Acinetobacter spp. in Deer Keds (Lipoptena cervi)

“…B. schoenbuchensis DNA was previously found in moose, roe deer, red deer, and cattle so probably these ruminants represent the reservoir hosts for these species (Chang et al, 2000; Bermond et al, 2002; Rolain et al, 2003; Maillard et al, 2004; Adamska, 2008; Duodu et al, 2013; Welc-Faleciak et al, 2013; Korhonen et al, 2015). Lipoptena cervi is suspected to act as the main vector for B. schoenbuchensis , it was found by cultivation and via molecular methods in adult L. cervi (Dehio et al, 2004; Matsumoto et al, 2008; Duodu et al, 2013; Bruin et al, 2015; Korhonen et al, 2015; Szewczyk et al, 2017), L. mazamae (Reeves et al, 2006) and feeding ticks (Matsumoto et al, 2008). Furthermore, B. schoenbuchensis was shown to colonize the midgut of deer keds (Dehio et al, 2004).…”

“…Occasionally, deer keds also bite humans who can develop dermatitis (Rantanen et al, 1982) possibly caused by Bartonella schoenbuchensis (Dehio et al, 2004). The vector-competence of L. cervi for B. schoenbuchensis seems to be proven and is suspected for other deer ked species ( L. mazamae ) (Dehio et al, 2004; Reeves et al, 2006; Matsumoto et al, 2008; Duodu et al, 2013; Bruin et al, 2015; Korhonen et al, 2015; Szewczyk et al, 2017).…”