Head Lice of Pygmies Reveal the Presence of Relapsing Fever Borreliae in the Republic of Congo.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, occur in four divergent mitochondrial clades (A, B, C and D), each having particular geographical distributions. Recent studies suggest that head lice, as is the case of body lice, can act as a vector for louse-borne diseases. Therefore, understanding the genetic diversity of lice worldwide is of critical importance to our understanding of the risk of louse-borne diseases.

Methodology/principal findings

Here, we report the results of the first molecular screening of pygmies' head lice in the Republic of Congo for seven pathogens and an analysis of lice mitochondrial clades. We developed two duplex clade-specific real-time PCRs and identified three major mitochondrial clades: A, C, and D indicating high diversity among the head

SUBMITTER: Amanzougaghene N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5135033 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature