Ticks are unlikely to play a role in leprosy transmission in the Comoros (East Africa) as they do not harbour M. leprae DNA

Frontiers in Medicine

Medicine

Younoussa Assoumani¹  Bouke Catherine de Jong²  Magalie Van Dyck-Lippens²  Elien Chauvaux³  Lena Krausser⁴  Sofie Marijke Braet⁴  Amina Yssouf⁵  Pablo Tortosa⁶ 

[1] Damien Foundation, Brussels, Belgium;National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program, Moroni, Comoros;Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium;Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium;University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium;Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Antwerp, Belgium;University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium;Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium;Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CHU de La Réunion, Plateforme Technologique CYROI, Sainte-Clotilde, Réunion Island, France;Plan National de Lutte contre le Paludisme, Moroni, Comoros;Unité Mixte de Recherche Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT), Université de La Réunion, CHU de La Réunion, Plateforme Technologique CYROI, Sainte-Clotilde, Réunion Island, France;Université de La Réunion, Fédération de recherche Environnement, Biodiversité et Santé, Saint-Denis, Réunion Island, France;

关键词: leprosy;    Mycobacterium leprae;    ticks;    transmission;    vector;    reservoir;    cattle;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2023.1238914

 received in 2023-06-12, accepted in 2023-09-18,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionLeprosy, one of the oldest known human diseases, continues to pose a global challenge for disease control due to an incomplete understanding of its transmission pathways. Ticks have been proposed as a potential contributor in leprosy transmission due to their importance as vectors for other infectious diseases.MethodsIn 2010, a sampling of ticks residing on cattle was conducted on the islands Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli which constitute the Union of the Comoros where leprosy remains endemic. To investigate the potential role of ticks as a vector in transmission of leprosy disease, molecular analyses were conducted.ResultsOut of the 526 ticks analysed, none were found to harbour Mycobacterium leprae DNA, as determined by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay targeting a family of dispersed repeats (RLEP) specific to M. leprae.DiscussionTherefore, our results suggest that in the Union of the Comoros, ticks are an unlikely vector for M. leprae.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Krausser, Chauvaux, Van Dyck-Lippens, Yssouf, Assoumani, Tortosa, de Jong and Braet.