title: Bartonella infections in fleas (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) and lack of bartonellae in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) from Hungary.
abstract: Fleas (95 Pulex irritans, 50 Ctenocephalides felis, 45 Ctenocephalides canis) and ixodid ticks (223 ixodes ricinus, 231 Dermacentor reticulatus, 204 Haemaphysalis concinna) were collected in Hungary and tested, in assays based on PCR, for Bartonella infection. Low percentages of P. irritans (4.2%) and C. felis (4.0%) were found to be infected. The groEL sequences of the four isolates from P. irritans were different from all the homologous sequences for bartonellae previously stored in GenBank but closest to those of Bartonella sp. SE-Bart-B (sharing 96% identities). The groEL sequences of the two isolates from C. felis were identical with those of the causative agents of cat scratch disease, Bartonella henselae and Bartonella clarridgeiae, respectively. The pap31 sequences of B. henselae amplified from Hungarian fleas were identical with that of Marseille strain. No Bartonella-specific amplification products were detected in C. canis, I. ricinus, D. reticulatus and H. concinna pools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, National Institute for Food Investigations, Mester u. 81, H-1095 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zsuzsa
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sréter-Lancz
authors.forename: Krisztián
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tornyai
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Széll
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sréter
authors.forename: Károly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Márialigeti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001179:Arthropod Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D001473:Bartonella / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005589:Foxes; D006814:Hungary; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D018834:Chaperonin 60; D004269:DNA, Bacterial