Bartonella quintana, the etiologic agent of trench fever and other human diseases, is transmitted by the feces of body lice.
Recently, this bacterium has been detected in other arthropod families such as bed bugs, which begs the question of their involvement in B. quintana transmission.
Although several infectious pathogens have been reported and are suggested to be transmitted by bed bugs, the evidence regarding their competence as vectors is unclear.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:
Bed bugs at the adult and instar developmental stages were fed three successive human blood meals inoculated with B. quintana bacterium from day one (D1) to D5; subsequently they were fed with pathogen-free human blood until the end of the experiment.
Bed bugs and feces were collected in time series, to evaluate their capacities to acquire, multiply and expel viable B. quintana using molecular biology, immunohistochemistry and cultures assays.
B. quintana was detected molecularly in 100% of randomly selected experimentally infected bed bug specimens (D3).
The monitoring of B. quintana in bed bug feces showed that the bacterium was detectable starting on the 3rd day post-infection (pi) and persisted until day 18±1 pi.
Although immunohistochemistry assays localized the bacteria to the gastrointestinal bed bug gut, the detection of B. quintana in the first and second instar larva stages suggested a vertical non-transovarial transmission of the bacterium.
CONCLUSION:
The present work demonstrated for the first time that bed bugs can acquire, maintain for more than 2 weeks and release viable B. quintana organisms following a stercorarial shedding.
We also observed the vertical transmission of the bacterium to their progeny.
Although the biological role of bed bugs in the transmission of B. quintana under natural conditions has yet to be confirmed, the present work highlights the need to reconsider monitoring of these arthropods for the transmission of human pathogens.
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Ugh... did a lot of research tonight, too much. Totally exhausted.
Saw a quote stating Canada was endemic for Lyme back in 1999. It was by the CDC I believe, or some of the other fools who generally say Lyme wasn't or isn't there. Was going to try to remember to send it to Jim, but forgot.
I just looked for it in emails, but now I am thinking it is on a webpage somewhere and I did many tonight.
Will look after I get some sleep. Don't let me forget please.
Next thing we will hear is its coming through our food.
Its really not about us anymore its about the future kids.
Insanity reins in so many ways
Posts: 66 | From Toronto Ontario | Registered: Apr 2014
| IP: Logged |
WPinVA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 33581
posted
Yuck! Thank you for posting this. I was always wary of pronouncements that bed bugs and lice absolutely didn't carry disease.
Posts: 1737 | From Virginia | Registered: Aug 2011
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[dizzy]](graemlins/dizzy.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic