Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, 100 Twelve Ln., Clay Lyle Entomology Building, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2012 Jul;49(4):922-6. doi: 10.1603/me11282.
Although a variety of disease agents have been reported from bed bugs, the mechanical and biological disease transmission potential of bed bugs remains unelucidated. In this study we assayed survivability of the mildly pathogenic spotted fever group rickettsia, Rickettsia parkeri, in bed bugs after feeding on R. parkeri-infected chicken blood. Two groups of 15 adult bed bugs each were fed on infected or noninfected blood, and two groups of fourth-instar bed bugs also were fed on either infected or noninfected blood. One group of 15 adult bed bugs received no bloodmeal and was included as an additional control. Two weeks postfeeding, two pools of five live bed bugs from each group were surface sterilized, macerated, and placed in Vero cell cultures in an attempt to grow live organism. The remaining five individual bed bugs from each group were dissected, their salivary glands were removed for immunofluorescence assay (IFA) staining, and the remaining body parts were processed for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Results indicated that no immature (now molted to fifth instar) bed bugs were positive for R. parkeri by IFA or PCR, indicating that organisms did not survive the molting process. After 4 wk of cell culture, no organisms were seen in cultures from any of the treatment or control groups, nor were any cultures PCR positive. However, two of the adult bed bugs were IFA positive for rickettsia-like organisms, and these two specimens were also PCR positive using R. parkeri-specific primers. These IFA and PCR results indicate that remnants of Rickettsia parkeri (possibly whole organisms) survived in the bugs for 2 wk, but the viability of the organisms in these two specimens could not be determined.
虽然已经从臭虫中报告了多种病原体，但臭虫的机械和生物疾病传播潜力仍未阐明。在这项研究中，我们检测了轻度致病斑点热群立克次体，即帕克立克次体，在吸食帕克立克次体感染的鸡血液后的臭虫中的生存能力。两组各 15 只成年臭虫分别喂食感染或未感染的血液，两组第四龄臭虫也分别喂食感染或未感染的血液。一组 15 只成年臭虫未接受血餐，作为附加对照。喂食后两周，每组的两组五只活臭虫进行表面消毒，粉碎并放入vero 细胞培养物中，试图生长活的生物体。每组剩余的五只个体臭虫被解剖，取出其唾液腺进行免疫荧光检测（IFA）染色，剩余的身体部分进行聚合酶链反应（PCR）分析。结果表明，IFA 或 PCR 未检测到任何不成熟（现已蜕皮到第五龄）的臭虫为帕克立克次体阳性，表明生物体未在蜕皮过程中存活。细胞培养 4 周后，来自任何处理或对照组的培养物中均未观察到生物体，也未进行任何 PCR 阳性检测。然而，有两只成年臭虫的 IFA 呈立克次体样生物体阳性，这两个标本也使用帕克立克次体特异性引物进行了 PCR 阳性检测。这些 IFA 和 PCR 结果表明，帕克立克次体的残留物（可能是整个生物体）在臭虫中存活了 2 周，但这两个标本中生物体的活力无法确定。
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