Cofeeding intra- and interspecific transmission of an emerging insect-borne rickettsial pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) are known as the primary vector and reservoir of Rickettsia felis, the causative agent of flea-borne spotted fever; however, field surveys regularly report molecular detection of this infectious agent from other blood-feeding arthropods. The presence of R. felis in additional arthropods may be the result of chance consumption of an infectious bloodmeal, but isolation of viable rickettsiae circulating in the blood of suspected vertebrate reservoirs has not been demonstrated. Successful transmission of pathogens between actively blood-feeding arthropods in the absence of a disseminated vertebrate infection has been verified, referred to as cofeeding transmission. Therefore, the principal route from systemically infected vertebrates to uninfected arthropods m

SUBMITTER: Brown LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4831916 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature