Prevalence and infection load dynamics of Rickettsia felis in actively feeding cat fleas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Rickettsia felis is a flea-associated rickettsial pathogen recurrently identified in both colonized and wild-caught cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis. We hypothesized that within colonized fleas, the intimate relationship between R. felis and C. felis allows for the coordination of rickettsial replication and metabolically active periods during flea bloodmeal acquisition and oogenesis.

Methodology/principal findings

A quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed to quantify R. felis in actively feeding R. felis-infected fleas. In three separate trials, fleas were allowed to feed on cats, and a mean of 3.9x10(6) R. felis 17-kDa gene copies was detected for each flea. A distinct R. felis infection pattern was not observed in fleas during nine consecutive days of bl

SUBMITTER: Reif KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2474969 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature