The epidemic typhus and trench fever are risk for public health due to increased migration in southeast of Turkey.

Pediculus humanus capitis is a small ectoparasitic insect that has lived and feds on human beings for thousands of years. Molecular techniques have been used for Pediculus species identification and evolutionary, phylogenic, and ecological studies. A total of 23 adults of P. h. capitis were collected in Gaziantep, located in southeast Turkey, and DNA was isolated from all P. h. capitis using DNA extraction kit. All DNA samples were screened for investigate of Ricettsia prowazekii, Bartonella quintana and Borrelia recurrentis with real-time polymerase chain reaction. In addition, we investigated genetic variation in DNA samples of Pediculus humanus capitis using the cytochrome oxidase I genetic DNA sequence. We found 4 (17.4%) Ricettsia prowazekii and 3 (13.1%) Bartonella quintana in DNA samples of Pediculus humanus capitis, while we did not find any Bartonella recurrentis in any of the DNA samples. We demonstrated 1.8% genetic variations in DNA samples of Pediculus humanus capitis with Bartonella quintana. The phylogenetic tree based on the cytochrome oxidase I gene revealed that P. h. capitis in southeast Turkey are classified into two clades (clade A, clade B) and Bartonella quintana was found in only clade B. However, we did not find any genetic variations in other DNA samples in this region. The genetic variations may be related to P. h.capitis vector of Bartonella quintana has found in this study. In addition, this study was shown that P. h. capitis do transmit Rickettsia prowazekii and Bartonella quintana to people, epidemic typhus and trench fever may emergence in Gaziantep southeast of Turkey in the future.

Rapid, Sensitive Detection of Bartonella quintana by Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification of the groEL Gene.

Trench fever, caused by Bartonella quintana, is recognized as a re-emerging and neglected disease. Rapid and sensitive detection approaches are urgently required to monitor and help control B. quintana infections. Here, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), which amplifies target DNA at a fixed temperature with high sensitivity, specificity and rapidity, was employed to detect B. quintana. Thirty-six strains, including 10 B. quintana, 13 other Bartonella spp., and 13 other common pathogens, were applied to verify and evaluate the LAMP assay. The specificity of the LAMP assay was 100%, and the limit of detection was 125 fg/reaction. The LAMP assay was compared with qPCR in the examination of 100 rhesus and 20 rhesus-feeder blood samples; the diagnostic accuracy was found to be 100% when LAMP was compared to qPCR, but the LAMP assay was significantly more sensitive (p < 0.05). Thus, LAMP methodology is a useful for diagnosis of trench fever in humans and primates, especially in low-resource settings, because of its rapid, sensitive detection that does not require sophisticated equipment.

Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata) as Natural Reservoir of Bartonella quintana.

Bartonella quintana bacteremia was detected in 6 (13.3%) of 45 wild-caught Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Multilocus sequence typing of the isolates revealed that Japanese macaques were infected with a new and specific B. quintana sequence type. Free-ranging Japanese macaques thus represent another natural reservoir of B. quintana.

Genetic diversity of Bartonella quintana in macaques suggests zoonotic origin of trench fever.

Bartonella quintana is a bacterium that causes a broad spectrum of diseases in humans including trench fever. Humans were previously considered to be the primary, if not the only, reservoir hosts for B. quintana. To identify the animal reservoir and extend our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary history of B. quintana, we examined blood samples from macaques and performed multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis. We demonstrated the prevalence of B. quintana infection was common in macaques from main primate centres in mainland China. Overall, 18.0% (59/328) of rhesus macaques and 12.7% (39/308) of cynomolgus macaques were found to be infected with B. quintana by blood culture and/or polymerase chain reaction. The infection was more frequently identified in juvenile and young monkeys compared with adult animals. In contrast with the relatively low level of sequence divergence of B. quintana reported in humans, our investigation revealed much higher genetic diversity in nonhuman primates. We identified 44 new nucleotide variable sites and 14 novel sequence types (STs) among the B. quintana isolates by MLST analysis. Some STs were found only in cynomolgus macaques, while some others were detected only in rhesus macaques, suggesting evidence of host-cospeciation, which were further confirmed by phylogenetic analysis and Splits decomposition analysis. Our findings suggest that trench fever may primarily be a zoonotic disease with macaques as the natural hosts.