Bartonella species in bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) from western Africa |
| |
| Authors: | Billeter S A Hayman D T S Peel A J Baker K Wood J L N Cunningham A Suu-Ire R Dittmar K Kosoy M Y |
| |
| Institution: | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector Borne Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. |
| |
| Abstract: | Bat flies are obligate ectoparasites of bats and it has been hypothesized that they may be involved in the transmission of Bartonella species between bats. A survey was conducted to identify whether Cyclopodia greefi greefi (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) collected from Ghana and 2 islands in the Gulf of Guinea harbour Bartonella. In total, 137 adult flies removed from Eidolon helvum, the straw-coloured fruit bat, were screened for the presence of Bartonella by culture and PCR analysis. Bartonella DNA was detected in 91 (66·4%) of the specimens examined and 1 strain of a Bartonella sp., initially identified in E. helvum blood from Kenya, was obtained from a bat fly collected in Ghana. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to report the identification and isolation of Bartonella in bat flies from western Africa. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录！ |
|
