Molecular evidence for the presence of Rickettsia Felis in the feces of wild-living African apes.

Molecular evidence for the presence of Rickettsia Felis in the feces of wild-living African apes.

Blog Article

Rickettsia felis is a common emerging pathogen detected in mosquitoes in sub-Saharan Africa.We hypothesized that, Diffusers as with malaria, great apes may be exposed to the infectious bite of infected mosquitoes and release R.felis DNA in their feces.We conducted a study of 17 forest sites in Central Africa, testing 1,028 fecal samples from 313 chimpanzees, 430 gorillas and 285 bonobos.The presence of rickettsial DNA was investigated by specific quantitative real-time PCR.

Positive results were confirmed by a second PCR using primers and a probe targeting a specific gene for R.felis.All positive samples were sequenced.Overall, 113 samples (11%) were positive for the Rickettsia-specific gltA gene, including 25 (22%) that were positive for R.felis.

The citrate synthase (gltA) sequence and outer membrane protein A (ompA) Massage sequence analysis indicated 99% identity at the nucleotide level to R.felis.The 88 other samples (78%) were negative using R.felis-specific qPCR and were compatible with R.felis-like organisms.

For the first time, we detected R.felis in wild-living ape feces.This non invasive detection of human pathogens in endangered species opens up new possibilities in the molecular epidemiology and evolutionary analysis of infectious diseases, beside HIV and malaria.