ArticleParasites & vectors2019
Molecular detection of Rickettsia felis in dogs, rodents and cat fleas in Zambia.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential zoonotic rickettsiales bacteria associated with small mammals and their ectoparasites in africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Unveiling the hidden threats: a review of pathogen diversity and public health risks from bats, rodents, and non-human primates in Zambia (1990-2022).Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Molecular diversity of tick-associated Rickettsia species in multiple provinces of Zambia.The Journal of veterinary medical science · 2026Article
- Improved Detection and Sequencing of Rickettsia spp. DNA in South African Wildlife.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Article
- Pathogen screening of Zambian ticks: new insights on the occurrence of tick-borne pathogens in the country.Parasites & vectors · 2026Article
- A novelFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- High prevalence of vector-borne protozoa and bacteria in dogs from Chad determined using a targeted next-generation sequencing approach.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Vector-borne pathogens in cats and associated fleas in southern Ethiopia.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Rickettsial Pathogens in Dogs and Ticks During an Epidemic of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Ensenada, Baja California, México.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Molecular detection and characterization ofInfection ecology & epidemiology · 2025Article
- Evidence of multiple bacterial, viral, and parasitic infectious disease agents inInfection ecology & epidemiology · 2025Article
- Molecular Detection ofVeterinary sciences · 2023Article
- Epidemiological Survey on Tick-Borne Pathogens with Zoonotic Potential in Dog Populations of Southern Ethiopia.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Article
- Epidemiological Study of the Occurrence of Typhus GroupAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Detection of Tick-Borne Bacterial and Protozoan Pathogens in Ticks from the Zambia-Angola Border.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Molecular Characterization by Multilocus Sequence Typing and Diversity Analysis ofVector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Current knowledge of vector-borne zoonotic pathogens in Zambia: A clarion call to scaling-up "One Health" research in the wake of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Review
- Molecular Detection of Zoonotic and Veterinary Pathogenic Bacteria in Pet Dogs and Their Parasitizing Ticks in Junggar Basin, North-Western China.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Prevalence and Molecular Characterization ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2021Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFlea-borne spotted fever is a zoonosis caused by Rickettsia felis, a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium. The disease has a worldwide distribution including western and eastern sub-Saharan Africa where it is associated with febrile illness in humans. However, epidemiology and the public health risks it poses remain neglected especially in developing countries including Zambia. While Ctenocephalides felis (cat fleas) has been suggested to be the main vector, other arthropods including mosquitoes have been implicated in transmission and maintenance of the pathogen; however, their role in the epidemiological cycle remains to be elucidated. Thus, the aim of this study was to detect and characterize R. felis from animal hosts and blood-sucking arthropod vectors in Zambia.
methodsDog blood and rodent tissue samples as well as cat fleas and mosquitoes were collected from various areas in Zambia. DNA was extracted and screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting genus Rickettsia and amplicons subjected to sequence analysis. Positive samples were further subjected to R. felis-specific real-time quantitative polymerase chain reactions.
resultsRickettsia felis was detected in 4.7% (7/150) of dog blood samples and in 11.3% (12/106) of rodent tissue samples tested by PCR; this species was also detected in 3.7% (2/53) of cat fleas infesting dogs, co-infected with Rickettsia asembonensis. Furthermore, 37.7% (20/53) of cat flea samples tested positive for R. asembonensis, a member of spotted fever group rickettsiae of unknown pathogenicity. All the mosquitoes tested (n = 190 pools) were negative for Rickettsia spp.
conclusionsThese observations suggest that R. felis is circulating among domestic dogs and cat fleas as well as rodents in Zambia, posing a potential public health risk to humans. This is because R. felis, a known human pathogen is present in hosts and vectors sharing habitat with humans.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.