TY - JOUR
T1 - Domestic dogs are mammalian reservoirs for the emerging zoonosis flea-borne spotted fever, caused by Rickettsia felis
AU - Ng-Nguyen, Dinh
AU - Hii, Sze-Fui
AU - Hoang, Minh-Trang Thi
AU - Nguyen, Van-Anh Thi
AU - Rees, Robert
AU - Stenos, John
AU - Traub, Rebecca Justine
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Rickettsia felis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that is being increasingly recognized as an etiological agent of human rickettsial disease globally. The agent is transmitted through the bite of an infected vector, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, however there is to date, no consensus on the pathogen’s vertebrate reservoir, required for the maintenance of this agent in nature. This study for the first time, demonstrates the role of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) as a vertebrate reservoir of R. felis. The ability of dogs to sustain prolonged periods of rickettsemia, ability to remain asymptomatically infected with normal haematological parameters and ability to act as biological vehicles for the horizontal transmission of R. felis between infected and uninfected fleas provides indication of their status as a mammalian reservoir of this emerging zoonosis. © The Author(s) 2020.
AB - Rickettsia felis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that is being increasingly recognized as an etiological agent of human rickettsial disease globally. The agent is transmitted through the bite of an infected vector, the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, however there is to date, no consensus on the pathogen’s vertebrate reservoir, required for the maintenance of this agent in nature. This study for the first time, demonstrates the role of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) as a vertebrate reservoir of R. felis. The ability of dogs to sustain prolonged periods of rickettsemia, ability to remain asymptomatically infected with normal haematological parameters and ability to act as biological vehicles for the horizontal transmission of R. felis between infected and uninfected fleas provides indication of their status as a mammalian reservoir of this emerging zoonosis. © The Author(s) 2020.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-61122-y
DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-61122-y
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
C2 - 32139802
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 10
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
M1 - 4151
ER -