Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes, UMR CNRS 6236 - IRD, WHO Collaborative Center for Rickettsioses and Other Arthropod Borne Bacterial Diseases, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Méditerranée, Marseille Cedex 5, France.
Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011 Jul;17(7):996-1000. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-0691.2011.03516.x.
Rickettsia felis is a spotted fever group rickettsia that has been definitely described in 2002. Within the last 20 years, there have been a growing number of reports implicating R. felis as a human pathogen, parallel to the fast-growing reports of the worldwide detection of R. felis in arthropod hosts, mainly the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis felis. R. felis is now known as the agent of the so-called flea-borne spotted fever, with more than 70 cases documented in the literature. Recently, two studies respectively conducted in Senegal and Kenya, have challenged the importance of R. felis infection in patients with unexplained fever in sub-Saharan Africa. We focus here on the epidemiological and clinical aspects of R. felis infection. More studies are needed, including the study of other arthropod vectors, but it can be speculated that R. felis infection might be an important neglected agent of fever in sub-Saharan Africa.
猫抓热立克次体是斑疹热群立克次体的一种，于 2002 年被明确描述。在过去的 20 年里，越来越多的报告表明猫抓热立克次体是人类病原体，同时，全球范围内在节肢动物宿主（主要是猫栉首蚤 Ctenocephalides felis felis）中检测到猫抓热立克次体的报告也在迅速增加。猫抓热立克次体现在被认为是所谓的跳蚤传播斑疹热的病原体，文献中记录了超过 70 例病例。最近，在塞内加尔和肯尼亚分别进行的两项研究对撒哈拉以南非洲地区不明原因发热患者中猫抓热立克次体感染的重要性提出了质疑。我们在这里重点关注猫抓热立克次体感染的流行病学和临床方面。需要开展更多的研究，包括对其他节肢动物媒介的研究，但可以推测，猫抓热立克次体感染可能是撒哈拉以南非洲地区发热的一个重要被忽视的病原体。
