Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector Borne Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Parasitology. 2012 Mar;139(3):324-9. doi: 10.1017/S0031182011002113. Epub 2012 Feb 6.
Bat flies are obligate ectoparasites of bats and it has been hypothesized that they may be involved in the transmission of Bartonella species between bats. A survey was conducted to identify whether Cyclopodia greefi greefi (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) collected from Ghana and 2 islands in the Gulf of Guinea harbour Bartonella. In total, 137 adult flies removed from Eidolon helvum, the straw-coloured fruit bat, were screened for the presence of Bartonella by culture and PCR analysis. Bartonella DNA was detected in 91 (66·4%) of the specimens examined and 1 strain of a Bartonella sp., initially identified in E. helvum blood from Kenya, was obtained from a bat fly collected in Ghana. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to report the identification and isolation of Bartonella in bat flies from western Africa.
吸血蝠蝇是蝙蝠的专性外寄生虫，有人假设它们可能参与了巴通体属种在蝙蝠之间的传播。本研究旨在调查从加纳和几内亚湾两个岛屿采集的 Cyclopodia greefi greefi（双翅目：Nycteribiidae）是否携带巴通体。共采集了 137 只成年吸血蝠蝇，来自 straw-coloured fruit bat（Eidolon helvum），通过培养和 PCR 分析来检测这些吸血蝠蝇是否携带巴通体。结果在 91 个（66.4%）样本中检测到了巴通体 DNA，并且从加纳采集的吸血蝠蝇中获得了一株最初在肯尼亚从 E. helvum 血液中鉴定出的巴通体属种的菌株。这是我们所知的首次在西非的吸血蝠蝇中鉴定和分离出巴通体的研究。
