Polygenic Detection of Rickettsia Felis in Cat Fleas (Ctenocephalides Felis) From Israel

Bauer, Omri; Baneth, Gad; Eshkol, Tamar; Shaw, Susan E.; Harrus, Shimon

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.2006.74.444

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In addition, previously demonstrated serologic evidence of spotted fever group rickettsiae infection among residents of Gag Island, in eastern Indonesia (15), could have been due to R. felis. On the basis of data presented here and of recent reports of R. felis in other countries in Asia (2)(3)(4)(5)8,9), healthcare providers in Indonesia should be alerted to the possibility of fleaborne spotted fever among their patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Jiang¹,

Soeatmadji²,

Henry³

et al. 2006

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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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...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rickettsia felis inXenopsylla cheopis, Java, Indonesia

Jiang¹,

Soeatmadji²,

Henry³

et al. 2006

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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“…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

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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%).

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“…IG-1, TwKM01, TwKM02, and TwKM03) were detected recently in Ixodes granulatus, Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Leptotrombidium deliense, and Mesostigmata vectors in Taiwan (Tsai et al 2008b, Tsui et al 2007). Flea-borne rickettsioses caused by Rickettsia felis were recently designated as a transitional group and have been discovered in vector fleas in many Asian countries including Thailand, Afghanistan, and Israel (Bauer et al 2006, Gillespie et al 2007, Marie et al 2006, Parola et al 2003. R. felis is primarily transmitted transovarially by the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), and human infections with R. felis have clinical symptoms similar to those of murine typhus (Azad et al 1997, Parola et al 2003.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Rickettsia felisin Cat Fleas in Taiwan

Tsai

Huang

et al. 2009

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

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We describe the first detection of Rickettsia felis in cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) in Taiwan. Natural infections of R. felis in cat fleas were isolated and confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and an immunofluorescence assay. The infection rate in individual fleas and the minimum infection rate in pooled fleas detected by the PCR method were found to be 18.8% (13/69) and 8.2% (8/97), respectively. Partial sequences of the plasmid pRF, 17-kDa antigen, and outer membrane protein A genes obtained from the samples are identical to those of R. felis URRWXCal2. Serological studies confirmed R. felis infection in two stray cats, as demonstrated by the presence of serum IgG antibodies against R. felis with an immunofluorescence assay titer of 1:320.

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Polygenic Detection of Rickettsia Felis in Cat Fleas (Ctenocephalides Felis) From Israel

Cited by 27 publications

References 30 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 felisin Cat Fleas in Taiwan

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