Identification of Rickettsia felis in fleas but not ticks on stray cats and dogs and the evidence of Rickettsia rhipicephali only in adult stage of Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides |
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| Authors: | Hsu Yuan-Man Lin Chao-Chen Chomel Bruno B Tsai Kun-Hsien Wu Wen-Jer Huang Chin-Gi Chang Chao-Chin |
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| Institution: | aDepartment of Biological Science and Technology, College of Life Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan;bTaichung Branch, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantin, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, Taiwan;cGraduate Institute of Microbiology and Public Health, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan;dDepartment of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, CA 95616, USA;eGraduate Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan;fDepartment and Graduate Institute of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan |
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| Abstract: | Rickettsia spp. are zoonotic pathogens and mainly transmitted by various arthropod vectors, such as fleas, ticks, and lice. Previous epidemiological studies indicated that ectoparasites infested on dogs or cats may be infected by Rickettsia spp., and transmit them to human beings accidentally. In this study, the prevalence of Rickettsia infection was evaluated using fleas and ticks from stray dogs and cats in Taiwan. A total of 158 pools made by 451 cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) from 37 dogs and 4 cats were used for analysis. Besides, 386 Rhipicephalus ticks collected from the other 62 stray dogs were included in this study. Nymphal and adult ticks were individually analyzed but larvae were separated into 21 pools for molecular detection. Partial sequencing analysis of the gltA gene was applied for Rickettsia identification. The results showed that 44.3% (70/158) of the cat flea pools were harboring Rickettsia DNA. Although 6.9% (13/187) of adult ticks were infected with Rickettsia, neither larval pools nor nymphal ticks were found to contain Rickettsia DNA. According to the results of sequencing analyses, all Rickettsia PCR-positive cat flea pools were infected with R. felis, and all Rickettsia PCR-positive adult ticks were infected with R. rhipicephali. The results of this study demonstrated that C. felis but not Rhipicephlus sanguineus (the brown dog tick) and Rh. haemaphysaloides collected from stray animals in Taiwan could be infected the zoonotic pathogen R. felis. Moreover, R. rhipicephali was only identified in adult stage of Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Rh. haemaphysaloides. |
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| Keywords: | Rickettsia felis Ctenocephalides felis Rickettsia rhipicephali Rhipicephalus sanguineus Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides |
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