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Rickettsia species in fleas collected from small mammals in Slovakia

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Abstract

Epidemiological and epizootiological studies of Rickettsia felis and other Rickettsia spp. are very important, because their natural cycle has not yet been established completely. In total, 315 fleas (Siphonaptera) of 11 species of Ceratophyllidae, Hystrichopsyllidae and Leptopsyllidae families were tested for the presence of Rickettsia species and Coxiella burnetii with conventional and specific quantitative real-time PCR assays. Fleas were collected from five rodent hosts (Myodes glareolus, Apodemus flavicollis, Apodemus agrarius, Microtus subterraneus, Microtus arvalis) and three shrew species (Sorex araneus, Neomys fodiens, Crocidura suaveolens) captured in Eastern and Southern Slovakia. Overall, Rickettsia spp. was found in 10.8 % (34/315) of the tested fleas of Ctenophthalmus agyrtes, Ctenophthalmus solutus, Ctenophthalmus uncinatus and Nosopsyllus fasciatus species. Infected fleas were coming from A. flavicollis, A. agrarius, and M. glareolus captured in Eastern Slovakia. C. burnetii was not found in any fleas. R. felis, Rickettsia helvetica, unidentified Rickettsia, and rickettsial endosymbionts were identified in fleas infesting small mammals in the Košice region, Eastern Slovakia. This study is the first report of R. felis infection in C. solutus male flea collected from A. agrarius in Slovakia.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the projects VEGA Nos.: 2/0061/13, 2/0059/15 from the Scientific Grant Agency of Ministry of Education and Slovak Academy of Sciences.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. All procedures performed in studies involving animals were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted. Small mammals were euthanized according to the laws of the Slovak Republic under the licences of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 297/108/06-3.1 and No. 6743/2008-2.1. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Eva Špitalská

  2. HPL (Ltd) Medical Laboratories, Istrijská 20, 841 07, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Vojtech Boldiš

  3. Institute of Parasitology Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01, Košice, Slovak Republic

    Ladislav Mošanský & Michal Stanko

  4. Vice-Chancellor Office, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

    Olivier Sparagano

  5. Institute of Zoology Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Michal Stanko

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  1. Eva Špitalská
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Correspondence to Eva Špitalská.

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Špitalská, E., Boldiš, V., Mošanský, L. et al. Rickettsia species in fleas collected from small mammals in Slovakia. Parasitol Res 114, 4333–4339 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4713-7

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