Quintero Juan Carlos, Londoño Andrés Felipe, Díaz Francisco J, Agudelo-Flórez Piedad, Arboleda Margarita, Rodas Juan David
Grupo de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias, Centauro, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
Grupo de Inmunovirología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
Biomedica. 2013 Sep;33 Suppl 1:38-51.
Rickettsia spp. are tick, flea or lice-borne pathogenic bacterium, usually carried by rodents. In the last decade three outbreaks of rickettsial disease including fatalities, occurred in the provinces of Antioquia and Córdoba in northwestern Colombia.
The purpose of this study was to perform an ecological and epidemiological description of the Rickettsia spp infection in the recently affected region of Colombia.
Samples were obtained from 354 rodents and their parasites captured in the municipalities of Apartadó, Turbo and Necoclí. Likewise, 220 human sera were also collected, for detection of infection by Rickettsia spp.
Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) revealed that 130 (43%) of the rodents and 53 (24%) of the humans produced antibodies to Rickettsia spp. Additionally, rickettsial DNA was amplified by PCR from 23 (6.8%) rodent liver samples using primers directed to the genus specific gltA gene. While gltA sequences from rodent samples exhibited a 98.7% similitude with R . prowazekii, a sequence amplified from larvae of Amblyomma sp exhibited identities of >99% similarity with R. tamurae .
These results demonstrate the presence of rickettsia in rodents, ectoparasites and humans throughout the municipalities studied.
立克次氏体属是由蜱、跳蚤或虱子传播的致病细菌，通常由啮齿动物携带。在过去十年中，哥伦比亚西北部的安蒂奥基亚省和科尔多瓦省发生了三次包括死亡病例在内的立克次氏体病疫情。
本研究的目的是对哥伦比亚最近受影响地区的立克次氏体属感染进行生态学和流行病学描述。
从阿帕塔多、图尔博和内科克利市捕获的354只啮齿动物及其寄生虫中采集样本。同样，还收集了220份人类血清，用于检测立克次氏体属感染。
间接免疫荧光试验（IFA）显示，130只（43%）啮齿动物和53人（24%）产生了针对立克次氏体属的抗体。此外，使用针对属特异性gltA基因的引物，通过PCR从23份（6.8%）啮齿动物肝脏样本中扩增出立克次氏体DNA。虽然啮齿动物样本的gltA序列与普氏立克次氏体的相似度为98.7%，但从钝缘蜱幼虫扩增出的一个序列与田村立克次氏体的相似度>99%。
这些结果表明，在所研究的各市的啮齿动物、体外寄生虫和人类中均存在立克次氏体。
