Detection of multiple Bartonella species in digestive and reproductive tissues
By Linda on May 20, 2010 in Infections | comments(0)
Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20220787&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
Excerpt:
At least 12 species in the genus Bartonella are zoonotic pathogens that may be
transmitted among mammalian hosts by fleas or other arthropods. Apparent host
specificity by some Bartonella species to mammalian hosts has been observed, and
the detection of multiple Bartonella species in mammalian fleas suggests that
fleas take bloodmeals from a variety of host species. However, many flea species
are observed to parasitize a narrow host range. Therefore, we suspect that fleas
may acquire Bartonella by a mechanism other than ingesting infectious blood. We
found that detection of multiple Bartonella genotypes and species is apparently
common in fleas and that the majority of fleas tested (5/9) carried Bartonella
species atypical of their hosts. We also detected Bartonella DNA in flea
reproductive tissues, suggesting that vertical transmission of this organism in
vectors is possible, potentially leading to the accumulation of Bartonella
diversity over time within fleas.The ISME Journal advance online publication, 11
March 2010; doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.22.
