Coevolution between Bartonella quintana and the natural reservoir and the pathogenicity of macaque-derived B. quintana for humans.

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26850188
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Veterinary medical science
• Research Institution: Nihon University
• Principal Investigator: SATO Shingo 日本大学, 生物資源科学部, 助手 (60708593)
• Research Collaborator: MARUYAMA Soichi ; KABEYA Hidenori ; SUZUKI Kazuo ; TAMATE Hidetoshi ; YAMAZAKI Shouki ; CHOMEL Bruno B.
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: Bartonella quintana / ニホンザル / 塹壕熱 / MLST / 赤血球

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Bartonella quintana is known as the causative agent of trench fever. The disease caused major epidemics among soldiers in World Wars I and II. Humans are thought to be the unique natural reservoir for B. quintana, but this bacterium has also been isolated from captive-bred cynomolgus amd rhesus macaques in other countries. However, no epidemiological studies of B. quintana have been conducted in wild macaques.
The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of B. quintana in wild Japanese macaques. In addition, we evaluated the potential pathogenicity of monkey-derived B. quintana for humans.
Bartonella quintana was isolated from six (13.3%) of 45 wild-caught Japanese macaques. The genetic characteristics of the isolates were found to be different from other known B. quintana strains derived from humans and captive-bred macaques. Moreover, it was suggested that the Japanese macaque strain has the potential to infect and invade into the human erythrocytes.

Free Research Field

人獣共通感染症学