title: Short report: isolation and identification of two spotted fever group rickettsial strains from patients in Catalonia, Spain.
abstract: Two rickettsial strains, 16B (previously isolated) and FB1, were isolated from blood from patients with Mediterranean spotted fever in Catalonia, Spain. These are the only 2 human rickettsial isolates of the spotted fever group obtained so far in Spain. These strains were identified by the polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis of a fragment of the outer membrane protein A (ompA) gene. The partial ompA sequence was found to be 100% identical with that of Rickettsia conorii (Malish 7 strain) for both strains. These results confirm the presence of R. conorii in Catalonia, despite the fact that in a previous study, no R. conorii were isolated, but a new rickettsial strain of the spotted fever group (Bar29) was isolated from dog ticks (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) in Catalonia. Further studies are necessary to get a better knowledge of the epidemiology of rickettsiae in Catalonia.
authors.affiliation: Programa Asistencial de Malalties Infeccioses i Secció de Microbiologia, Corporació Sanitària Parc Tauli, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cardeñosa
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Font
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sanfeliu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Segura
mesh_terms: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D001907:Boutonneuse Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D015200:Fluoroimmunoassay; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020114:Rickettsia conorii / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C078167:OMPA outer membrane proteins