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Metagenomic analysis of human-biting cat fleas in urban northeastern United States of America reveals an emerging zoonotic pathogen

An infestation of cat fleas in a research center led to the detection of two genotypes of Ctenocephalides felis biting humans in New Jersey, USA. The rarer flea genotype had an 83% incidence of Rickettsia asembonensis, a recently described bacterium closely related to R. felis, a known human pathoge...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ferreira, Francisco C., Fonseca, Dina M., Hamilton, George, Price, Dana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519146/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32973327
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72956-x
Descripción
Sumario:An infestation of cat fleas in a research center led to the detection of two genotypes of Ctenocephalides felis biting humans in New Jersey, USA. The rarer flea genotype had an 83% incidence of Rickettsia asembonensis, a recently described bacterium closely related to R. felis, a known human pathogen. A metagenomics analysis developed in under a week recovered the entire R. asembonensis genome at high coverage and matched it to identical or almost identical (> 99% similarity) strains reported worldwide. Our study exposes the potential of cat fleas as vectors of human pathogens in crowded northeastern U.S, cities and suburbs where free-ranging cats are abundant. Furthermore, it demonstrates the power of metagenomics to glean large amounts of comparative data regarding both emerging vectors and their pathogens.