Acquisition and excretion of Bartonella quintana by the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis felis

Abstract

Bartonella quintana is transmitted by the infected faeces of body lice. Recently, this bacterium was detected in cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) and in two humans with chronic adenopathy whose only risk factor was contact with cat fleas. In this study, a total of 960 C. felis were divided into 12 groups (2 control groups and 10 infected groups) each containing 80 fleas. The fleas were fed B. quintana-inoculated human blood at different dilutions (≈3.6 × 10(4) - 8.4 × 10(9) bacteria) for 4 days via an artificial membrane. Subsequently, all flea groups were fed uninfected blood until day 13 postinfection (dpi). On day 3 pi, B. quintana was detected with two specific genes by quantitative PCR in 60-100% of randomly chosen fleas per dilution: 52% (26/50) in the infected fleas in Trial 1 and 90% (45/50) of the fleas in Trial 2. B. quintana was also identified by molecular and culture assays in flea faeces. The average number of B. quintana as determined by qPCR decreased until the 11th dpi and was absent in both trials at the 13th dpi. Bacteria were localized only in the flea gastrointestinal gut by specific immunohistochemistry. Our results indicate that cat fleas can acquire B. quintana by feeding and release viable organisms into their faeces. Therefore, fleas may play a role as vectors of trench fever or other clinical manifestations that are caused by B. quintana. However, the biological role of C. felis in the transmission of B. quintana under natural conditions is yet to be defined.

Relationship between the Presence of Bartonella Species and Bacterial Loads in Cats and Cat Fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) under Natural Conditions

“…strain Tel Aviv Rr, B. elizabethae, and B. tribocorum in the C. felis fleas studied supports the notion that these arthropods are in close contact with other mammal hosts and not restricted to one host species only, even though the mobility of the fleas between hosts has been estimated to be low (36). Previous experimental studies have proven that C. felis can acquire and maintain persistent infection with non-feline-associated bartonellae, including B. tribocorum (23,37), and evidence of C. felis (collected from dogs) carrying B. elizabethae DNA has been recently reported (38). Interestingly, the transmission of this rodent-associated Bartonella strain from fleas to cats and the potential establishment of infection in the cats seem to be limited in the population studied, as no cat was found to be infected with this strain.…”

European Network for Neglected Vectors and Vector-Borne Infections COST Action Guidelines: What Is This About and What Is This For?

“…Decontamination of superficial bacteria from the arthropod with 70% ethanol or ethanoliodine solutions, followed by sterile water or phosphatebuffered saline (PBS) washes (incubations of 5-10 min), results in reduction of contaminants and does not prevent the isolation of Bartonella (Koehler et al 1994, Flexman et al 1995, La Scola et al 2001, Dehio et al 2004, Kernif et al 2014. Then, the arthropod can be homogenized in a liquid medium (e.g., Luria-Bertani, BHI broths) and subsequently plated on agar as described below.…”

Agents zoonotiques vectorisés étudiés à l’Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection

“…De cette façon, nous avons montré le rôle de vecteur potentiel de la puce du chat Ctenocephalides felis dans la transmission de Bartonella quintana, agent de la fièvre des tranchées dont les vecteurs admis sont les poux de corps (Kernif et al 2014). Nous avons également étudié les relations entre différents couples vecteurs-pathogènes, par exemple le couple tique du chien Rhipicephalus sanguineus et bactérie Rickettsia conorii .…”