TY  - JOUR
A1  - Regier, Yvonne
A1  - Ballhorn, Wibke
A1  - Kempf, Volkhard A. J.
T1  - Molecular detection of Bartonella henselae in 11 Ixodes ricinus ticks extracted from a single cat
T2  - Parasites & Vectors
N2  - Background: Bartonella henselae is a highly prevalent, vector-borne pathogen. Transmission to humans and animals by ticks is discussed controversially. Here, we present a case report, where eleven Ixodes ricinus ticks all harbouring B. henselae DNA were removed from one single cat.
Results: The first feeding tick was tested positive for B. henselae DNA. The cat was also found to be seropositive for anti-B. henselae IgG antibodies (titer 1:640). Bartonella henselae was not cultivatable from cat blood. Ten more feeding ticks removed 7 months later contained also B. henselae DNA. Sequence analysis of the 16SrDNA and the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region revealed 100% sequence homology between all ticks. Bartonella adhesin A (badA) and VirB/VirD4 type IV secretion system (virB) DNA were also detected in all ticks.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that cats may serve as a reservoir for adult ticks to acquire B. henselae. Whether this observation implies an increased threat for human and animal health needs to be resolved.
KW  - Vector-borne infections
KW  - Transmission
KW  - Zoonosis
KW  - BadA,
KW  - VirB
KW  - Feline bartonellosis
Y1  - 2017
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/44425
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-444250
N1  - © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
VL  - 10
IS  - Nr. 105
PB  - BioMed Central
CY  - London
ER  -