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. 2016 Dec 2;10(12):e0005142.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005142. eCollection 2016 Dec.

Head Lice of Pygmies Reveal the Presence of Relapsing Fever Borreliae in the Republic of Congo

Nadia Amanzougaghene  1 , Jean Akiana  2 , Géor Mongo Ndombe  2 , Bernard Davoust  1 , Nardiouf Sjelin Nsana  2 , Henri-Joseph Parra  2 , Florence Fenollar  1 , Didier Raoult  1   3 , Oleg Mediannikov  1   3
Affiliations

Head Lice of Pygmies Reveal the Presence of Relapsing Fever Borreliae in the Republic of Congo

Nadia Amanzougaghene et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Erratum in

Expression of concern in

Abstract

Background: Head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, occur in four divergent mitochondrial clades (A, B, C and D), each having particular geographical distributions. Recent studies suggest that head lice, as is the case of body lice, can act as a vector for louse-borne diseases. Therefore, understanding the genetic diversity of lice worldwide is of critical importance to our understanding of the risk of louse-borne diseases.

Methodology/principal findings: Here, we report the results of the first molecular screening of pygmies' head lice in the Republic of Congo for seven pathogens and an analysis of lice mitochondrial clades. We developed two duplex clade-specific real-time PCRs and identified three major mitochondrial clades: A, C, and D indicating high diversity among the head lice studied. We identified the presence of a dangerous human pathogen, Borrelia recurrentis, the causative agent of relapsing fever, in ten clade A head lice, which was not reported in the Republic of Congo, and B. theileri in one head louse. The results also show widespread infection among head lice with several species of Acinetobacter. A. junii was the most prevalent, followed by A. ursingii, A. baumannii, A. johnsonii, A. schindleri, A. lwoffii, A. nosocomialis and A. towneri.

Conclusions/significance: Our study is the first to show the presence of B. recurrentis in African pygmies' head lice in the Republic of Congo. This study is also the first to report the presence of DNAs of B. theileri and several species of Acinetobacter in human head lice. Further studies are needed to determine whether the head lice can transmit these pathogenic bacteria from person to another.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Map of head lice collection in the pygmy population from Congo-Brazzaville.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Cytb haplotype networks of human body and head lice. Each circle indicates a unique haplotype and variations in circle size are proportional to haplotype frequencies. Pie colors and sizes in circles represent the continents and the number of their sequence for a haplotype.
The length of the links between nodes is proportional to mutational differences. Haplotypes identified in the present study are in bold.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Maximum-likelihood phylogram of Pediculus humanus haplotypes based on partial 272-bp cytb gene with Pediculus schaeffi and Pthirus pubis as outgroups.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree based on 340-bp fragment flaB gene of the Borrelia species.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree based on 440-bp fragment rpoB gene of the Acinetobacter species and Moraxellaceae species, while Pseudomonas was used as an out group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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