Schott D, Souza U A, Dall'Agnol B, Webster A, Doyle R, Peters F, Favarini M, Mazim F, Rosa A O, Jardim M M A, Trigo T C, Reck J
Instituto de Pesquisas Veterinárias Desidério Finamor (IPVDF), Eldorado do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Area de Vida Assessoria e Consultoria em Biologia e Meio Ambiente, Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Med Vet Entomol. 2019 Dec;33(4):536-540. doi: 10.1111/mve.12371. Epub 2019 Mar 8.
Fleas are insects with a worldwide distribution that have been implicated in the transmission of several pathogens. The present study aimed to investigate the presence of Rickettsia spp. (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) and Bartonella spp. (Rhizobiales: Bartonellaceae) in fleas from free-ranging crab-eating foxes Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1766) (Carnivora: Canidae) from Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. Fleas were collected manually from animals and used for the molecular detection of Rickettsia spp. and Bartonella spp. Twenty-nine C. thous were sampled in six municipalities. Four foxes were parasitized by 10 fleas, all of which were identified as Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché, 1935) (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae). DNA from Rickettsia felis Bouyer et al., 2001 and Rickettsia asembonensis Maina et al., 2016 were found in three and eight fleas, respectively. In four fleas, DNA of Bartonella sp. was identified. Phylogenetic analysis grouped Bartonella sp. together with other genotypes previously reported in C. felis worldwide. The scenario described in the present study highlights a Neotropical canid parasitized by the invasive cosmopolitan cat flea, which in turn, is carrying potentially invasive vector-borne microorganisms. These findings suggest that C. felis is adapted to wild hosts in wilderness areas in southern Brazil, hypothetically exposing the Neotropical fauna to unknown ecological and health disturbances.
跳蚤是一种分布于全球的昆虫，与多种病原体的传播有关。本研究旨在调查巴西南部南里奥格兰德州野生食蟹狐（Cerdocyon thous，Linnaeus，1766）（食肉目：犬科）身上跳蚤中里氏立克次体属（立克次体目：立克次体科）和巴尔通体属（根瘤菌目：巴尔通体科）的存在情况。通过人工从动物身上采集跳蚤，并用于里氏立克次体属和巴尔通体属的分子检测。在六个城市对29只食蟹狐进行了采样。四只狐狸被10只跳蚤寄生，所有跳蚤均被鉴定为猫栉首蚤（Bouché，1935）（蚤目：蚤科）。分别在三只和八只跳蚤中发现了2001年的费氏立克次体（Bouyer等人）和2016年的阿森博内斯立克次体（Maina等人）的DNA。在四只跳蚤中鉴定出了巴尔通体属的DNA。系统发育分析将巴尔通体属与先前在全球猫栉首蚤中报道的其他基因型归为一类。本研究中描述的情况凸显了一种新热带犬科动物被入侵的世界性猫蚤寄生，而这种猫蚤又携带了潜在的入侵性媒介传播微生物。这些发现表明，猫栉首蚤适应了巴西南部荒野地区的野生宿主，据推测这会使新热带动物群面临未知的生态和健康干扰。
