Liodaki Maria, Spanakos Gregory, Samarkos Michael, Daikos George L, Christopoulou Varvara, Piperaki Evangelia-Theophano
1 Department of Public and Community Heath, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece.
2 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Acta Vet Hung. 2022 Mar 4. doi: 10.1556/004.2022.00004.
The purpose of this study was the molecular detection of Bartonella spp. in fleas and ticks parasitizing cats and dogs from 39 locations in Attica, Greece. One hundred and forty five ectoparasites (104 fleas and 41 ticks) from 92 cats and 53 dogs were investigated individually using PCRs targeting the 16S-23S ribosomal RNA intergenic spacer (ITS) and the citrate synthase (gltA) genetic loci. Bartonella spp. were detected in 14 out of 104 fleas (13.5%) and in none of the ticks examined. Consequent sequence analysis of the amplicons from the two loci identified 3 strains as Bartonella henselae, and 11 as Bartonella clarridgeiae. Οur study demonstrates the presence of B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae in Ctenocephalides felis fleas from cat and dog in Greece. We also report a novel ITS sequence for B. clarridgeiae. Considering that fleas could pose a risk for human bartonellosis from their infected hosts, further studies on the public health risk of Bartonella presence in animal ectoparasites are warranted.
本研究的目的是对来自希腊阿提卡39个地点、寄生于猫和狗身上的跳蚤和蜱中巴尔通体属进行分子检测。使用针对16S - 23S核糖体RNA基因间隔区（ITS）和柠檬酸合酶（gltA）基因位点的聚合酶链反应（PCR），对来自92只猫和53只狗的145只体表寄生虫（104只跳蚤和41只蜱）进行了单独检测。在104只跳蚤中有14只（13.5%）检测到巴尔通体属，在所检测的蜱中未检测到。随后对来自两个基因位点的扩增子进行序列分析，鉴定出3株为亨氏巴尔通体，11株为克拉氏巴尔通体。我们的研究证明了希腊猫和狗身上的猫栉首蚤中存在亨氏巴尔通体和克拉氏巴尔通体。我们还报告了克拉氏巴尔通体一种新的ITS序列。鉴于跳蚤可能会因其感染的宿主而给人类巴尔通体病带来风险，有必要进一步研究动物体表寄生虫中存在巴尔通体对公共卫生的风险。
