Infection Rates of Wolbachia sp., Bartonella sp. and Rickettsia sp. in Different Populations of Fleas

BackgroundFlea-borne organisms are widely distributed throughout the world in endemic disease foci, where components of the enzootic cycle are present. However, flea-borne human pathogens have emerged recently (e.g., Bartonella henselae, Rickettsia felis), suggesting that much remains to be learned about the potential role of fleas as disease vectors. Thus flea-borne diseases could re-emerge in epidemic form because of changes in the vector–host ecology due to environmental and human behaviour modifications. On the other hand, Wolbachia strains are globally distributed, and currently these bacteria are considered the most abundant endosymbionts found in invertebrates. ObjectivesIn the present study, we carried out a molecular detection of Bartonella sp. Rickettsia sp. and Wolbachia sp. in different populations of fleas isolated from different hosts from different geographical areas of Europe. MethodsMolecular studies were performed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) of ribosomal DNA (16S, 16S-23 intergenic spacer region and 23S–5S intergenic spacer region) of Wolbachia sp., Bartonella sp. and Rickettsia sp., respectively. ConclusionsIn the present work, we detected the presence of Bartonella sp., Rickettsia sp. and Wolbachia sp. in different flea species. Some species such as Nosopsyllus barbarus were tested for these pathogens for the first time. Our results strongly support the role of W. pipientis as a common endosymbiont of fleas as well as the idea that several flea species might play an important role as vectors in human Bartonella sp. and Rickettsia sp infections in different geographical areas.