New Rickettsia sp. in tsetse flies from Senegal

Tsetse flies are blood-sucking insects transmitting African trypanosomiasis. They are known to harbor also three intracellular bacteria that play important role in their lifecycle: Wigglesworthia glossinidia, Sodalis glossinidius and Wolbachia sp. We have studied 78 Glossina morsitans submorsitans collected in Senegal. In all studied flies we amplified genes of bacterium phylogenetically close to obligate intracellular pathogen Rickettsia felis, the agent of spotted fever in humans. We also visualized this rickettsia in the cells of tsetse flies by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The role of this probable fourth endosymbiotic bacterium of tsetse flies in Glossina lifecycle and possible pathogenecity for humans should be further investigated.