title: Rickettsia species in African Anopheles mosquitoes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is higher rate of R. felis infection among febrile patients than in healthy people in Sub-Saharan Africa, predominantly in the rainy season. Mosquitoes possess a high vectorial capacity and, because of their abundance and aggressiveness, likely play a role in rickettsial epidemiology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Quantitative and traditional PCR assays specific for Rickettsia genes detected rickettsial DNA in 13 of 848 (1.5%) Anopheles mosquitoes collected from Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, and Senegal. R. felis was detected in one An. gambiae molecular form S mosquito collected from Kahin, Côte d'Ivoire (1/77, 1.3%). Additionally, a new Rickettsia genotype was detected in five An. gambiae molecular form S mosquitoes collected from Côte d'Ivoire (5/77, 6.5%) and one mosquito from Libreville, Gabon (1/88, 1.1%), as well as six An. melas (6/67, 9%) mosquitoes collected from Port Gentil, Gabon. A sequence analysis of the gltA, ompB, ompA and sca4 genes indicated that this new Rickettsia sp. is closely related to R. felis. No rickettsial DNA was detected from An. funestus, An. arabiensis, or An. gambiae molecular form M mosquitoes. Additionally, a BLAST analysis of the gltA sequence from the new Rickettsia sp. resulted in a 99.71% sequence similarity to a species (JQ674485) previously detected in a blood sample of a Senegalese patient with a fever from the Bandafassi village, Kedougou region.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  R. felis was detected for the first time in An. gambiae molecular form S, which represents the major African malaria vector. The discovery of R. felis, as well as a new Rickettsia species, in mosquitoes raises new issues with respect to African rickettsial epidemiology that need to be investigated, such as bacterial isolation, the degree of the vectorial capacity of mosquitoes, the animal reservoirs, and human pathogenicity.
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, URMITE, UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Socolovschi
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pages
authors.forename: Mamadou O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Ndiath
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ratmanov
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000382:microbiology*; D004772:Entomology; D005260:Female; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*; D041161:Rickettsia felis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology