RESEARCH ARTICLE


Molecular-based Survey of Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii in Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from Fars Province, Southern Iran, during 2017-18



Zahra Hoseini1, Hamzeh Alipour2, Kourosh Azizi2, Aboozar Soltani2, *
1 Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran


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Creative Commons License
© 2020 Hoseini et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Tel: 0098-7137251001-6; Fax: 0098-7137260225; E-mail: abu2sol@yahoo.com


Abstract

Objectives:

Since there have not been any studies on the roles of the Iranian mosquitoes in the transmission of Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burneti, the present study investigates the roles of mosquitoes in the transmission of the pathogens using the PCR techniques for the first time in Iran.

Methods:

The present study was conducted in Fars province during the activity seasons of mosquitoes in 2017-18. The primer design was done to investigate the probability of mosquito’s contamination with Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii. The conventional PCR was used after the extraction of DNA from mosquitoes to study the contamination.

Results:

A total of 1103 adult mosquitoes were collected and identified. Among them, 3 genera and 11 species were identified, including Anopheles (25.74%), Culex (51.84%) and Culiseta (22.39%) genera. All tested mosquitoes were negative in terms of contamination to Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii.

Conclusion:

Based on the results, mosquitoes are not considered as vectors of Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii in this part of the country currently. Further studies on a larger scale are needed to examine the exact role of mosquitoes (as a possible vector with high abundance and mobility) in the transmission of these pathogens in tropical areas of Iran.

Keywords: Mosquito, Rickettsia, Coxiella, Molecular survey, Infection, Iran.