Med Vet Entomol. 2009 Dec;23(4):393-8.

from carnivorous mammals
in Andalusia, Spain.

Marquez FJ, Millan J, Rodriguez-Liebana JJ, Garcia-Egea I, Muniain MA.

Departamento Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal y Ecologia, Universidad de Jaen,
23071 Jaen, Spain. jmarquez@ujaen.es

A total of 559 fleas representing four species (Pulex irritans, Ctenocephalides
felis, Ctenocephalides canis and Spilopsyllus cuniculi) collected on carnivores
(five Iberian lynx Lynx pardinus, six European wildcat Felis silvestris, 10
common genet Genetta genetta, three Eurasian badger Meles meles, 22 red fox
Vulpes vulpes, 87 dogs and 23 cats) in Andalusia, southern Spain, were
distributed in 156 pools of monospecific flea from each carnivore, and tested
for Bartonella infection in an assay based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
amplification of the 16 S-23 S rRNA intergenic spacer region. Twenty-one samples
(13.5%) were positive and the sequence data showed the presence of four
different Bartonella species. Bartonella henselae was detected in nine pools of
Ctenocephalides felis from cats and dogs and in three pools of Ctenocephalides
canis from cats; Bartonella clarridgeiae inBartonella henselae from a cat,
and Bartonella alsatica in Spilopsyllus cuniculi from a wildcat. DNA of
Bartonella sp., closely related to Bartonella rochalimae, was found in seven
pools of Pulex irritans from foxes. This is the first detection of B. alsatica
and Bartonella sp. in the Iberian Peninsula. All of these Bartonella species
have been implicated as agents of human diseases. The present survey confirms
that carnivores are major reservoirs for Bartonella spp.

Publication Types:
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t

http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=19941605&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
PMID: 19941605 [PubMed – in process]

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