Prevalence of Rickettsia felis in the fleas Ctenocephalides felis felis and Ctenocephalides canis from two Indian villages in Sao Paulo Municipality, Brazil

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Oct:1078:361-3. doi: 10.1196/annals.1374.071.

Abstract

We evaluated the presence of Rickettsia infection among fleas collected on domestic dogs in two Guarani Indian communities in the suburban area of São Paulo Municipality, Brazil. A total of 114 Ctenocephalides felis felis and 47 Ctenocephalides canis were collected from 40 dogs. A total of 41 C. felis felis (36.0%) and 9 C. canis (19.1%) fleas yielded expected bands by PCR, which were all shown by DNA sequencing to be indentical to the corresponding sequence of a fragment of the Rickettsia felis gltA gene deposited in GenBank. The overall prevalence of R. felis was 31.0% (49/161).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brazil
  • Dogs / parasitology
  • Humans
  • Rickettsia felis / genetics
  • Rickettsia felis / isolation & purification*
  • Rural Population
  • Siphonaptera / microbiology*