ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2022
The role of cofeeding arthropods in the transmission of Rickettsia felis.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 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
- Filling the Gap: Establishing a Statewide Tick and Tick-Borne Pathogen Surveillance Program.Insects · 2026Article
- Precursors to the 1918 pandemic: Finding Rickettsia felis and Mucor co-infection associated with a death in 1912.International journal of paleopathology · 2026Article
- Interaction of Bacteria and Fleas, Focusing on the Plague Bacterium-A Review.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Rickettsia felis meningoencephalitis in a 10-year-old child: a case report and literature review.BMC pediatrics · 2025Review
- The microbiome of the sucking louse Linognathus stenopsis (Phthiraptera, Anoplura, Linognathiidae).Journal of medical entomology · 2025Article
- The influence of forest habitat type onCurrent research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2024Article
- Eco-epidemiology of rodent-associated trombiculid mites and infection with Orientia spp. in Southern Chile.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Analysis of the Type 4 Effectome across the GenusInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Transposon mutagenesis of Rickettsia felis sca1 confers a distinct phenotype during flea infection.PLoS pathogens · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
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 quadrimaculatus) hosts was examined via cofeeding bioassays. Donor cat fleas infected with R. felis transmitted the agent to naïve D. variabilis nymphs via cofeeding on a rat host. Subsequent transstadial transmission of R. felis from the engorged nymphs to the adult ticks was observed with reduced prevalence in adult ticks. Using an artificial host system, An. quadrimaculatus exposed to a R. felis-infected blood meal acquired rickettsiae and maintained infection over 12 days post-exposure (dpe). Similar to ticks, mosquitoes were able to acquire R. felis while cofeeding with infected cat fleas on rats infection persisting in the mosquito for up to 3 dpe. The results indicate R. felis-infected cat fleas can transmit rickettsiae to both ticks and mosquitoes via cofeeding on a vertebrate host, thus providing a potential avenue for the diversity of R. felis-infected arthropods in nature.
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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.