Co-infection with Arsenophonus nasoniae and Orientia tsutsugamushi in a traveler

• Published in: Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) Vol. 13; no. 8; p. 565
• Main Authors: Edouard, Sophie, Subramanian, Geetha, Lefevre, Benjamin, Dos Santos, Anabelle, Pouedras, Pascal, Poinsignon, Yves, Mediannikov, Oleg, Raoult, Didier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-08-2013
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Antibodies, Bacterial - immunology; Antigens, Bacterial - immunology; Antigens, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Asia, Southeastern; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - isolation & purification; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biopsy; Coinfection; Enterobacteriaceae - genetics; Enterobacteriaceae - immunology; Enterobacteriaceae - isolation & purification; Enterobacteriaceae Infections - complications; Enterobacteriaceae Infections - diagnosis; Enterobacteriaceae Infections - microbiology; Female; France; Humans; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Orientia tsutsugamushi - genetics; Orientia tsutsugamushi - immunology; Orientia tsutsugamushi - isolation & purification; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Scrub Typhus - complications; Scrub Typhus - diagnosis; Scrub Typhus - microbiology; Skin - microbiology; Skin - pathology; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; Travel; Asia, Southeastern; France
• ISSN: 1557-7759
• DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2012.1083

Here we report a case of co-infection with Orientia tsutsugamushi, the causative agent of scrub typhus, and Arsenophonus nasoniae in a woman with a rash and an eschar who returned from a trip to Southeast Asia. A. nasoniae was previously considered to be a secondary insect and tick endosymbiont of unknown pathogenicity in humans. We amplified both O. tsutsugamushi and A. nasoniae DNA from a skin eschar with qPCR, and a seroconversion for O. tsutsugamushi and A. nasoniae was observed with immunofluorescence assays and western blotting for this patient. And we used 2-D western blotting with an A. nasoniae antigen and polyclonal mouse anti-A. nasoniae antibodies produced in our laboratory to detect the specific antigenic A. nasoniae proteins.