Open AccessBartonella quintana in head louse nits
Author(s) -
Angelakis Emmanouil,
Rolain JeanMarc,
Raoult Didier,
Brouqui Philippe
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-695x.2011.00804.x
Subject(s) - biology , louse , bartonella , relapsing fever , genetics , virology , zoology
The body louse is the principal vector of Bartonella quintana , the causative organism of trench fever, but B. quintana DNA has also been detected in adult head lice. Because there are no characteristics that distinguish the body louse from the head louse, we decided to test head louse nits collected from a homeless man for the presence of B. quintana DNA. All of the sampled nits tested positive by real‐time PCR, and intergenic spacer region (ITS) gene sequences shared 100% similarity to the corresponding ITS fragment of the genome of B. quintana . The role of the head louse in the maintenance and transmission of B. quintana remains to be determined.