Tay Nguyen University, Buon Ma Thuot, Dak Lak, Vietnam.
Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 5;10(1):4151. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61122-y.
Rickettsia felis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that is being increasingly recognized as an etiological agent of human rickettsial disease globally. The agent is transmitted through the bite of an infected vector, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, however there is to date, no consensus on the pathogen's vertebrate reservoir, required for the maintenance of this agent in nature. This study for the first time, demonstrates the role of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) as a vertebrate reservoir of R. felis. The ability of dogs to sustain prolonged periods of rickettsemia, ability to remain asymptomatically infected with normal haematological parameters and ability to act as biological vehicles for the horizontal transmission of R. felis between infected and uninfected fleas provides indication of their status as a mammalian reservoir of this emerging zoonosis.
猫栉首蚤传播的猫型落矶山斑疹热立克次体在全球范围内被认为是人类落矶山斑疹热的病因之一，它是一种专性细胞内细菌。该病原体通过受感染的媒介，即感染的猫栉首蚤（Ctenocephalides felis）的叮咬传播。然而，目前对于该病原体在自然界中维持所必需的脊椎动物宿主，尚未达成共识。本研究首次证明了家犬（Canis familiaris）作为猫型落矶山斑疹热立克次体的脊椎动物宿主的作用。狗能够长时间维持立克次体血症，无症状感染且血液学参数正常，并且能够作为感染和未感染的跳蚤之间水平传播的生物媒介，这表明它们是这种新出现的人畜共患病的哺乳动物宿主。
