Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile
Background Rattus rattus is a widely distributed, invasive species that presents an important role in disease transmission, either directly or through vector arthropods such as fleas. These black rats can transmit a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria of the genus Bartonella, which can cau...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a54072bc9deb49e284cb20e4978aa52f 2024-01-07T09:46:12+01:00 Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile Lucila Moreno Salas Mario Espinoza-Carniglia Nicol Lizama Schmeisser L. Gonzalo Torres María Carolina Silva-de la Fuente Marcela Lareschi Daniel González-Acuña 2019-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7371 https://doaj.org/article/a54072bc9deb49e284cb20e4978aa52f EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/7371.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7371/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.7371 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/a54072bc9deb49e284cb20e4978aa52f PeerJ, Vol 7, p e7371 (2019) Infection Infectious diseases Molecular epidemiology Fleas Rodent Chile Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7371 2023-12-10T01:50:20Z Background Rattus rattus is a widely distributed, invasive species that presents an important role in disease transmission, either directly or through vector arthropods such as fleas. These black rats can transmit a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria of the genus Bartonella, which can cause diseases in humans and animals. In Chile, no data are available identifying fleas from synanthropic rodents as Bartonella vectors. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Bartonella spp. in the fleas of R. rattus in areas with different climate conditions and featuring different human population densities. Methods In all, 174 fleas collected from 261 R. rattus captured from 30 localities with different human densities (cities, villages, and wild areas) across five hydrographic zones of Chile (hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, and hyper-humid) were examined. Bartonella spp. presence was determined through polymerase chain reaction, using gltA and rpoB genes, which were concatenated to perform a similarity analysis with BLAST and phylogenetic analysis. Results Overall, 15 fleas species were identified; Bartonella gltA and rpoB fragments were detected in 21.2% (37/174) and 19.5% (34/174) of fleas, respectively. A total of 10 of the 15 fleas species found were positive for Bartonella DNA. Leptopsylla segnis was the most commonly collected flea species (n = 55), and it also presented a high prevalence of Bartonella DNA (P% = 34.5%). The highest numbers of fleas of this species were collected in villages of the arid zone. There were no seasonal differences in the prevalence of Bartonella DNA. The presence of Bartonella DNA in fleas was recorded in all hydrographic areas, and the arid zone presented the highest prevalence of this species. Regarding areas with different human densities, the highest prevalence was noted in the villages (34.8% gltA and 31.8% rpoB), followed by cities (14.8% gltA and 11.1% rpoB) and wild areas (7.4% gltA and 14.8% rpoB). The BLAST analysis showed a high similitude ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 7 e7371 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Infection Infectious diseases Molecular epidemiology Fleas Rodent Chile Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Infection Infectious diseases Molecular epidemiology Fleas Rodent Chile Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Lucila Moreno Salas Mario Espinoza-Carniglia Nicol Lizama Schmeisser L. Gonzalo Torres María Carolina Silva-de la Fuente Marcela Lareschi Daniel González-Acuña Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
topic_facet |
Infection Infectious diseases Molecular epidemiology Fleas Rodent Chile Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Background Rattus rattus is a widely distributed, invasive species that presents an important role in disease transmission, either directly or through vector arthropods such as fleas. These black rats can transmit a wide variety of pathogens, including bacteria of the genus Bartonella, which can cause diseases in humans and animals. In Chile, no data are available identifying fleas from synanthropic rodents as Bartonella vectors. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Bartonella spp. in the fleas of R. rattus in areas with different climate conditions and featuring different human population densities. Methods In all, 174 fleas collected from 261 R. rattus captured from 30 localities with different human densities (cities, villages, and wild areas) across five hydrographic zones of Chile (hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, and hyper-humid) were examined. Bartonella spp. presence was determined through polymerase chain reaction, using gltA and rpoB genes, which were concatenated to perform a similarity analysis with BLAST and phylogenetic analysis. Results Overall, 15 fleas species were identified; Bartonella gltA and rpoB fragments were detected in 21.2% (37/174) and 19.5% (34/174) of fleas, respectively. A total of 10 of the 15 fleas species found were positive for Bartonella DNA. Leptopsylla segnis was the most commonly collected flea species (n = 55), and it also presented a high prevalence of Bartonella DNA (P% = 34.5%). The highest numbers of fleas of this species were collected in villages of the arid zone. There were no seasonal differences in the prevalence of Bartonella DNA. The presence of Bartonella DNA in fleas was recorded in all hydrographic areas, and the arid zone presented the highest prevalence of this species. Regarding areas with different human densities, the highest prevalence was noted in the villages (34.8% gltA and 31.8% rpoB), followed by cities (14.8% gltA and 11.1% rpoB) and wild areas (7.4% gltA and 14.8% rpoB). The BLAST analysis showed a high similitude ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lucila Moreno Salas Mario Espinoza-Carniglia Nicol Lizama Schmeisser L. Gonzalo Torres María Carolina Silva-de la Fuente Marcela Lareschi Daniel González-Acuña |
author_facet |
Lucila Moreno Salas Mario Espinoza-Carniglia Nicol Lizama Schmeisser L. Gonzalo Torres María Carolina Silva-de la Fuente Marcela Lareschi Daniel González-Acuña |
author_sort |
Lucila Moreno Salas |
title |
Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
title_short |
Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
title_full |
Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
title_fullStr |
Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fleas of black rats (Rattus rattus) as reservoir host of Bartonella spp. in Chile |
title_sort |
fleas of black rats (rattus rattus) as reservoir host of bartonella spp. in chile |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7371 https://doaj.org/article/a54072bc9deb49e284cb20e4978aa52f |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 7, p e7371 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/7371.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7371/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.7371 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/a54072bc9deb49e284cb20e4978aa52f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7371 |
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PeerJ |
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7 |
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e7371 |
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1787427940527505408 |