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Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms
Body lice and head lice are the most common ectoparasites of humans. Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) occur worldwide in children and their caretakers, irrespective of their social status. In contrast, body lice (Pediculus humanus corporis) are confined to marginalized population groups in coun...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10510260/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37730694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41182-023-00545-5 |
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author | Feldmeier, Hermann |
author_facet | Feldmeier, Hermann |
author_sort | Feldmeier, Hermann |
collection | PubMed |
description | Body lice and head lice are the most common ectoparasites of humans. Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) occur worldwide in children and their caretakers, irrespective of their social status. In contrast, body lice (Pediculus humanus corporis) are confined to marginalized population groups in countries of the Global South, homeless people, and refugees. Body lice are known to transmit an array of bacterial pathogens, such as R. prowazekii, R. rickettsii, C. burneti, B. quintana, B. recurrentis, and Y. pestis. The vector capacity of head lice is still a matter of debate. The objective of the review was to scrutinize the existing evidence on the vector capacity of head lice for the transmission of bacterial pathogens. The PUBMED database was searched using a combination of the terms “pediculus humanus” OR “body lice” OR “head lice” AND “pathogen” OR “Rickettsia prowazekii” OR “Bartonella quintana” OR “Borrelia recurrentis” OR “Coxiella burneti” without a time limit. Data from epidemiological studies as well as historical observations demonstrate that body lice and head lice can carry the same array of pathogens. Since the presence of a bacterial pathogen in an arthropod is not sufficient to state that it can be transmitted to humans, and since experimental models are lacking, as yet one cannot conclude with certainty that head lice serve as vectors, although this review presents circumstantial evidence that they do. Adequately designed experimental and epidemiological studies are needed to ascertain the exact transmission potential of head lice. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10510260 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-105102602023-09-21 Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms Feldmeier, Hermann Trop Med Health Review Body lice and head lice are the most common ectoparasites of humans. Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) occur worldwide in children and their caretakers, irrespective of their social status. In contrast, body lice (Pediculus humanus corporis) are confined to marginalized population groups in countries of the Global South, homeless people, and refugees. Body lice are known to transmit an array of bacterial pathogens, such as R. prowazekii, R. rickettsii, C. burneti, B. quintana, B. recurrentis, and Y. pestis. The vector capacity of head lice is still a matter of debate. The objective of the review was to scrutinize the existing evidence on the vector capacity of head lice for the transmission of bacterial pathogens. The PUBMED database was searched using a combination of the terms “pediculus humanus” OR “body lice” OR “head lice” AND “pathogen” OR “Rickettsia prowazekii” OR “Bartonella quintana” OR “Borrelia recurrentis” OR “Coxiella burneti” without a time limit. Data from epidemiological studies as well as historical observations demonstrate that body lice and head lice can carry the same array of pathogens. Since the presence of a bacterial pathogen in an arthropod is not sufficient to state that it can be transmitted to humans, and since experimental models are lacking, as yet one cannot conclude with certainty that head lice serve as vectors, although this review presents circumstantial evidence that they do. Adequately designed experimental and epidemiological studies are needed to ascertain the exact transmission potential of head lice. BioMed Central 2023-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC10510260/ /pubmed/37730694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41182-023-00545-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Review Feldmeier, Hermann Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title | Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title_full | Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title_fullStr | Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title_full_unstemmed | Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title_short | Head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
title_sort | head lice as vectors of pathogenic microorganisms |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10510260/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37730694 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41182-023-00545-5 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT feldmeierhermann headliceasvectorsofpathogenicmicroorganisms |