Emerging Infectious Diseases (Aug 2021)

Molecular Detection and Characterization of Rickettsia asembonensis in Human Blood, Zambia

  • Lavel C. Moonga,
  • Kyoko Hayashida,
  • Namwiinga R. Mulunda,
  • Yukiko Nakamura,
  • James Chipeta,
  • Hawela B. Moonga,
  • Boniface Namangala,
  • Chihiro Sugimoto,
  • Zephaniah Mtonga,
  • Mable Mutengo,
  • Junya Yamagishi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2708.203467
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 8
pp. 2237 – 2239

Abstract

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Rickettsia asembonensis is a flea-related Rickettsia with unknown pathogenicity to humans. We detected R. asembonensis DNA in 2 of 1,153 human blood samples in Zambia. Our findings suggest the possibility of R. asembonensis infection in humans despite its unknown pathogenicity.

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