Detection of Orientia sp. DNA in rodents from Asia, West Africa and Europe

Jean François Cosson (1) , Maxime Galan (1) , Emilie Bard (2) , Maria Razzauti (1) , Maria Bernard (3) , Serge Morand (4, 5) , Carine Brouat (1) , Ambroise Dalecky (6, 1) , Khalilou Bâ (1) , Nathalie Charbonnel (1) , Muriel Vayssier Taussat (7)

1 UMR CBGP - Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations
2 UR EpiA - Unité de Recherche d'Épidémiologie Animale
3 GABI - Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative
4 UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier
5 Department of Helminthology, Faculty of Tropical Medicine
6 LPED - Laboratoire Population-Environnement-Développement
7 BIPAR - Biologie moléculaire et immunologie parasitaires et fongiques

Orientia bacterium is the agent of the scrub typhus, a seriously neglected life-threatening disease in Asia. Here, we report the detection of DNA of Orientia in rodents from Europe and Africa. These findings have important implications for public health. Surveillance outside Asia, where the disease is not expected by sanitary services, needs to be improved.

Keywords: Scrub typhus; Zoonoses; Emerging disease; Rodent-borne disease; Metagenomics; SCRUB-TYPHUS; TSUTSUGAMUSHI; DISEASE

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Santé publique et épidémiologie

Jean François Cosson, Maxime Galan, Emilie Bard, Maria Razzauti, Maria Bernard, et al.. Detection of Orientia sp. DNA in rodents from Asia, West Africa and Europe. Parasites & Vectors, 2015, 8 (172), pp.172. ⟨10.1186/s13071-015-0784-7⟩. ⟨hal-01217533⟩