Table 2.
Epidemiological studies in population groups infested with head lice
| Country; area/city | Year | Study design/detection of DNA of | Number of persons/lice examined | Number of lice positive (%) | Pathogens identified | Remarks | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Republic of Congo; Kinshasa | 2019 | Examination of patients hospitalized at the Monkole Hospital Center/B. quintana, B. recurrentis, R. prowazekii, Anaplasma spp., Y. pestis, C. burneti, Acinetobacter spp. | 27/181 |
54/181 (29.8%) |
A. baumannii; A. johnsonii; A. sai; A. pittii; A. guillouiae; A. pediculi | Head lice belonged to clade A, D, E; 44% of the infested patients had head lice from different clades | [28] |
| Madagascar; rural communities in the Southeast | 2019 | Collection of head lice from inhabitants of rural communities/B. quintana, Acinetobacter spp. | 33/151 |
20/151 (30.2%) |
B. quintana 12.6%; Acinetobacter 42.1% |
Frequency of pathogens varied considerably between villages | [23] |
|
Algeria; Algier |
2019 |
Collection of head lice from refugees from Niger and school children/ Rickettsia spp., Borrelia spp., B. quintana; Y. pestis, C. burneti; Anaplasma spp.; Acinetobacter spp. |
70 refugees, 101 school children/ 37 lice from refugees, 45 lice from school children |
C. burneti: lice positive school children 0/45 (0%)] refugees 3/31 (9.7%) Acinetobacter spp. school children 25/45 (55.6%) refugees 25/31 (80.6%) |
C. burneti; A. baumanii; A. johnsonii; A. variabilis |
Head lice belonged to clade A, B, E | [25] |
| Mali; Koulikoro region | 2017 | Collection of head lice from patients presenting at rural health centers Patients were examined for presence of head and body lice; only head lice were present/B. quintana, Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp. | 117/600 |
B. quintana lice positive 3/600 (0.5%) C. burneti: lice positive 6/117 (5.1%) Rickettsia spp. lice positive 4/600 (0.6%) |
B. quintana C. burneti Rickettsia spp. Anaplasma spp. |
Lice belonged to clade E but showed many different haplotypes | [24] |
| Democratic Republic of Congo; tropical rain forest inhabited by pygmies | 2016 |
Collection of head lice from healthy individuals of 3 communities/ Borrelia spp., Bartonella spp., Acinetobacter spp., Rickettsia spp., R. prowazekii, Y. pestis, Anaplasma spp. |
120/630 |
lice positive 246/630 (39.0%) Borrelia spp. 11/630 (1.7%) (B. recurrentis 10/11 (90.9%) B. theileri 1/11 (9.1%), |
Borrelia spp. A. junii, A. ursingii, A. baumannii, A. johnsonii, A. schindleri, A. lwoffii, A. nosocomialis, A. towneri, Moraxella spp. |
lice belonged to clade A, C, D; distribution of clades differed between villages | [26] |
| Thailand; schools in different areas of the country | 2015 | Head lice collected from school children/Bartonella spp., Acinetobacter spp. | 26/275 | lice positive 10/275 (3.7%) |
A. baumannii, A. radioresistens, A. schindleri |
[29] | |
| Ethiopia | 2013 | Head lice collected from patients with louse-borne relapsing fever | 24/35 |
Lice positive 8/35 (23.0%) |
B. recurrentis | [27] | |
| France | 2011 |
Head lice collected from school children during an epidemiological survey/ B. quintana A. baumannii |
?/288 |
A. baumannii lice positive 95/288 (33.0%) |
A. baumannii | [30] |