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Volume 8, Number 12—December 2002
Dispatch

Human Pathogens in Body and Head Lice

Pierre-Edouard Fournier*, Jean-Bosco Ndihokubwayo*†, Jo Guidran‡, Patrick J. Kelly§, and Didier Raoult*Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: *Université des la Méditerranée, Marseille Cedex, France; †Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Bujumbura, Burundi; ‡Médecins sans frontière, Marseille, France; §Ross University, St. Kitts, West Indies;

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Table 1

Prevalences of infections in body lice collected in various areas of the world

Detectiona of
Country Source, yr Referenceb No. Rickettsia prowazekii
(no., %) Bartonella quintana (no., %)
Body lice
France Homeless in Marseille, 1998–2001 PSc 324 0 32 (9.9%)
France Homeless shelter in Marseille, 2000 (13) 161 0 42 (26.1%)
France Isolated homeless in Marseille, 1998 (10) 75 0 3 (4.0%)
The Netherlands Homeless in Utrecht, 2001 PS 25 0 9 (36.0%)
Russia Homeless in Moscow, 1998 (10) 268 0 33 (12.3%)
Tunisia Homeless in Sousse, 2000 PS 3 0 0
Algeria Homeless in Batna, 2001 PS 33 0 0
Congo Refugee camp, 1998 (10) 7 0 0
Burundi During typhus outbreak
Jail, 1997 (10) 10 2 (20%) 0
Refugee camp, 1997 (10) 63 22 (35%) 6 (9.5%)
After typhus outbreak
Refugee camp, 1998 (10) 91 0 13 (14.3%)
Refugee camp, 1998 PS 38 0 8 (21.0%)
Refugee camp, 2000 PS 111 0 100 (90%)
Refugee camp, 2001 PS 33 7 (21%) 31 (93.9%)
Rwanda Jail, 2001 PS 262 19 (7%) 6 (2.3%)
Zimbabwe Homeless in Harare, 1998 (10) 12 0 2 (16.7%)
Australia Homeless in , 2001 PS 2 0 0
Peru Andean rural population (10) 73 0 1 (1.4%)
Peru Andean rural population PS 10 0 0
Head lice
France Schoolchildren PS 20 0 0
Portugal Schoolchildren PS 20 0 0
Russia Schoolchildren PS 10 0 0
Algeria Schoolchildren PS 18 0 0
Burundi Schoolchildren PS 20 0 0
China Schoolchildren PS 23 0 0
Thailand Schoolchildren PS 29 0 0
Australia Schoolchildren PS 3 0 0

aBorrelia recurrentis could not be detected in any of the tested lice.
bData previously reported in the indicated reference.
cPS, present study.

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