The role of cofeeding arthropods in the transmission of Rickettsia felis.

ABSTRACT: Rickettsia felis is an emerging etiological agent of rickettsioses worldwide. The cosmopolitan cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is the primary vector of R. felis, but R. felis has also been reported in other species of hematophagous arthropods including ticks and mosquitoes. Canines can serve as a bacteremic host to infect fleas under laboratory conditions, yet isolation of R. felis from the blood of a vertebrate host in nature has not been realized. Cofeeding transmission is an efficient mechanism for transmitting rickettsiae between infected and uninfected fleas; however, the mechanism of transmission among different orders and classes of arthropods is not known. The potential for R. felis transmission between infected fleas and tick (Dermacentor variabilis) and mosquito (Anopheles quadr

SUBMITTER: Fongsaran C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9269922 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature