title: The origin and distribution of human lice in the world.
abstract: Two genera of lice parasitize humans: Pthirus and Pediculus. The latter is of significant public health importance and comprises two ecotypes: the body louse and the head louse. These ecotypes are morphologically and genetically notably similar; the body louse is responsible for three infectious diseases: Louse-borne epidemic typhus, relapsing fever, and trench fever. Mitochondrial DNA studies have shown that there are three obviously divergent clades of head lice (A, B and C), and only one clade of body lice is shared with head lice (clade A). Each clade has a unique geographic distribution. Lice have been parasitizing humans for millions of years and likely dispersed throughout the World with the human migrations out of Africa, so they can be good markers for studying human evolution. Here, we present an overview of the origin of human lice and their role in vector pathogenic bacteria that caused epidemics, and we review the association between lice clades and human migrations.
authors: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes: URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France.
authors: Amina
authors: A
authors: Boutellis
authors: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire d'Analyse, Topologie, Probabilités - Unité Mixte de Recherche 7353, Equipe ATIP, Aix-Marseille Université, 13331 Marseille, France.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Abi-Rached
authors: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes: URMITE, Aix Marseille Université, UMR CNRS 7278, IRD 198, INSERM 1095, Faculté de Médecine, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13005 Marseille, France. Electronic address: didier.raoult@gmail.com.
authors: Didier
authors: D
authors: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017344:Genes, Insect; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D010374:Pediculus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D058974:Phylogeography
keywords: Evolution; Louse borne disease; Migration; Mitochondrial genes; Pediculus humanus