Bartonella Spp. in Fruit Bats and Blood-feeding Ectoparasites in Madagascar

Overview

Journal PLoS Negl Trop Dis

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Tropical Medicine

Date 2015 Feb 24

PMID 25706653

Citations 44

Authors

Cara E Brook

Ying Bai

Andrew P Dobson

Lynn M Osikowicz

Hafaliana C Ranaivoson

Qiyun Zhu

Michael Y Kosoy

Katharina Dittmar

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We captured, ectoparasite-combed, and blood-sampled cave-roosting Madagascan fruit bats (Eidolon dupreanum) and tree-roosting Madagascan flying foxes (Pteropus rufus) in four single-species roosts within a sympatric geographic foraging range for these species in central Madagascar. We describe infection with novel Bartonella spp. in sampled Eidolon dupreanum and associated bat flies (Cyclopodia dubia), which nest close to or within major known Bartonella lineages; simultaneously, we report the absence of Bartonella spp. in Thaumapsylla sp. fleas collected from these same bats. This represents the first documented finding of Bartonella infection in these species of bat and bat fly, as well as a new geographic record for Thaumapsylla sp. We further relate the absence of both Bartonella spp. and ectoparasites in sympatrically sampled Pteropus rufus, thus suggestive of a potential role for bat flies in Bartonella spp. transmission. These findings shed light on transmission ecology of bat-borne Bartonella spp., recently demonstrated as a potentially zoonotic pathogen.

Citing Articles

Diversity and seasonality of ectoparasite burden on two species of Madagascar fruit bat, and .

Andrianiaina A, Andry S, Kettenburg G, Ranaivoson H, Lacoste V, Dussart P bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 39896656 PMC: 11785112. DOI: 10.1101/2025.01.20.633693.

Genomic characterization of novel bat kobuviruses in Madagascar: implications for viral evolution and zoonotic risk.

Gonzalez F, Ranaivoson H, Andrianiaina A, Andry S, Raharinosy V, Randriambolamanantsoa T bioRxiv. 2025; .

PMID: 39763865 PMC: 11703200. DOI: 10.1101/2024.12.24.630179.

Complete mitochondrial genome of Penicillidia dufourii (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea: Nycteribiidae) and phylogenetic relationship.

Zheng X, Lin X, Zhang X, Huang X, Yue X, Pu J Parasitol Res. 2024; 123(8):302.

PMID: 39158739 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-024-08321-y.

Molecular prevalence of spp. in bat flies in east coast Malaysia.

Peng T, Kamar A, Mohamed M, Gilbert B, Mohd Sani N, C W Zalati C Heliyon. 2024; 10(9):e29785.

PMID: 38699006 PMC: 11064076. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29785.

Bartonella in bat flies from the Egyptian fruit bat in the Middle East.

Spitalska E, Sevcik M, Peresh Y, Benda P Parasitol Res. 2024; 123(2):144.

PMID: 38411931 PMC: 10899309. DOI: 10.1007/s00436-024-08165-6.

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