title: Bartonella prevalence and genetic diversity in small mammals from Ethiopia.
abstract: More than 500 small mammals were trapped at 3 localities in northern Ethiopia to investigate Bartonella infection prevalence and the genetic diversity of the Bartonella spp. We extracted total DNA from liver samples and performed PCR using the primers 1400F and 2300R targeting 852 bp of the Bartonella RNA polymerase beta subunit (rpoB) gene. We used a generalized linear mixed model to relate the probability of Bartonella infection to species, season, locality, habitat, sex, sexual condition, weight, and ectoparasite infestation. Overall, Bartonella infection prevalence among the small mammals was 34.0%. The probability of Bartonella infection varied significantly with species, sex, sexual condition, and some locality, but not with season, elevation, habitat type, animal weight, and ectoparasite infestation. In total, we found 18 unique Bartonella genotypes clustered into 5 clades, 1 clade exclusively Ethiopian, 2 clades clustered with genotypes from central and eastern Africa, and the remaining 2 clades clustered with genotypes and species from Africa and Asia. The close relatedness of several of our Bartonella genotypes obtained from the 3 dominant rodent species in Tigray with the pathogenic Bartonella elizabethae from Rattus spp. in Asia indicates a potential public health threat.
authors: University of Antwerp, Evolutionary Ecology Group, Belgium. meheretu@yahoo.com
authors: Yonas
authors: Y
authors: Meheretu
authors: Herwig
authors: H
authors: Leirs
authors: Kiros
authors: K
authors: Welegerima
authors: Matteo
authors: M
authors: Breno
authors: Zewdneh
authors: Z
authors: Tomas
authors: Dawit
authors: D
authors: Kidane
authors: Kokob
authors: K
authors: Girmay
authors: Joëlle Goüy
authors: JG
authors: de Bellocq
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001473:Bartonella / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D058507:Host Specificity; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012737:Sex Factors; D012788:Shrews / Q000382:microbiology*; D062206:Spatial Analysis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit