Molecular and serological evidence of flea-associated typhus group and spotted fever group rickettsial infections in Madagascar

Table 2 Detection of rickettsial DNA in fleas collected from rodents and houses from Tsiroanomandidy, Madagascar. Exact binomial confidence intervals (95% CI) are given in square brackets

Flea species	Principal host	Location	No. sampled	Rickettsia spp. positive (%) [95% CI]	R. typhi positive (%) [95% CI]	R. felis positive (%) [95% CI]
X. cheopis ^a	Rodents	Andrefanigara	107	36 (33.6) [25–43.5]	26^b (24.3) [16.8–33.7]	2^b (1.9) [0.3–7.2]
P. irritans	Humans	Miandrarivo	26	15 (57.7) [37.2–76]	0	8^b (30.8) [15.1–51.9]

^aOther fleas collected from rodents were all negative: S. fonquerniei from Andrefanigara (n = 4) and Ambarivatry (n = 5) and X. cheopis from Ambarivatry (n = 1)
^bMost Rickettsia spp. positive samples that were not subsequently positive for R. typhi or R. felis had Ct values close to 40

ISSN: 1756-3305