Body Lice as Tools for Diagnosis and Surveillance of Reemerging Diseases

摘要: Body lice are vectors of three bacteria which cause human disease: Rickettsia prowazekii, the agent epidemic typhus; Bartonella quintana, trench fever; and Borrelia recurrentis, relapsing fever. A recrudescence body is being observed as numbers individuals living under social conditions predispose to infestation have increased. Because this phenomenon may lead reemergence infections transmitted by lice, we aimed assess occurrence prevalence agents described above in more than 600 collected from infested African countries Congo, Zimbabwe, Burundi, France, Russia, Peru. The presence each louse was determined specific PCR amplification, identities organisms detected were confirmed determination nucleotide base sequences amplification products. Using approach, able confirm R. prowazekii refugees among whom typhus epidemic, B. quintana all locations except Congo. recurrentis never found. Molecular approaches convenient tools for detection identification bacterial DNA epidemiological study louse-borne where no medical biological laboratory facilities available.