title: Isolation of Treponema DNA from Necrophagous Flies in a Natural Ecosystem.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, the World Health Organization launched a campaign to eradicate the tropical disease yaws, caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue; however, for decades researchers have questioned whether flies act as a vector for the pathogen that could facilitate transmission.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 207 fly specimens were trapped in areas of Africa in which T. pallidum-induced skin ulcerations are common in wild baboons; 88 flies from Tarangire National Park and 119 from Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania were analyzed by PCR for the presence of T. pallidum DNA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We report that in the two study areas, T. pallidum DNA was found in 17-24% of wild-caught flies of the order Diptera. Treponemal DNA sequences obtained from many of the flies match sequences derived from nearby baboon T. pallidum strains, and one of the fly species with an especially high prevalence of T. pallidum DNA, Musca sorbens, has previously been shown to transmit yaws in an experimental setting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results raise the possibility that flies play a role in yaws transmission; further research is warranted, given how important understanding transmission is for the eradication of this disfiguring disease.
authors.affiliation: Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases, Pathology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: sknauf@dpz.eu.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knauf
authors.affiliation: Ecology Monitoring Department, Tanzania National Parks, P.O. Box 3134, Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raphael
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research, Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Oriol
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mitjà
authors.affiliation: Ecology Monitoring Department, Tanzania National Parks, P.O. Box 3134, Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Inyasi A V
authors.initials: IAV
authors.lastname: Lejora
authors.affiliation: Ecology Monitoring Department, Tanzania National Parks, P.O. Box 3134, Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Idrissa S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chuma
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3020, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Emmanuel K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Batamuzi
authors.affiliation: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, P.O. Box. 661, Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Julius D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Keyyu
authors.affiliation: Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, P.O. Box. 661, Arusha, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fyumagwa
authors.affiliation: Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases, Pathology Unit, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lüert
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
authors.forename: Charmie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Godornes
authors.affiliation: National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
authors.forename: Hsi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, Brno 625 00, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Šmajs
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Dermatologie, Centre National de Reference de la Syphilis, 75014 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grange
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zinner
authors.affiliation: Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; Gene Bank of Primates, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
authors.forename: Sheila A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lukehart
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004175:Diptera / Q000145:classification / Q000382:microbiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology; D010215:Papio / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013636:Tanzania; D014208:Treponema / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Dipteria; Nonhuman primates; Transmission; Treponema pallidum; Yaws