BACKGROUND: Recently, the World Health Organization launched a campaign to eradicate the tropical disease yaws, caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue; however, for decades researchers have questioned whether flies act as a vector for the pathogen that could facilitate transmission. METHODS: A total of 207 fly specimens were trapped in areas of Africa in which T. pallidum-induced skin ulcerations are common in wild baboons; 88 flies from Tarangire National Park and 119 from Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania were analyzed by PCR for the presence of T. pallidum DNA. FINDINGS: We report that in the two study areas, T. pallidum DNA was found in 17-24% of wild-caught flies of the order Diptera. Treponemal DNA sequences obtained from many of the flies match sequences derived from nearby baboon T. pallidum strains, and one of the fly species with an especially high prevalence of T. pallidum DNA, Musca sorbens, has previously been shown to transmit yaws in an experimental setting. INTERPRETATION: Our results raise the possibility that flies play a role in yaws transmission; further research is warranted, given how important understanding transmission is for the eradication of this disfiguring disease.

Cognitive Ethology Laboratory German Primate Center Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany

Department of Biology Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Kamenice 5 Brno 625 00 Czech Republic

Department of Medicine University of Washington Harborview Medical Center 325 Ninth Avenue Seattle WA 98104 USA

Department of Surgery and Theriogenology Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Sokoine University of Agriculture P O Box 3020 Morogoro Tanzania

Ecology Monitoring Department Tanzania National Parks P O Box 3134 Arusha Tanzania

ISGlobal Barcelona Centre for International Health Research Hospital Clínic Universitat de Barcelona Barcelona Spain

Laboratoire de Dermatologie Centre National de Reference de la Syphilis 75014 Paris France

National Center for HIV AIDS Viral Hepatitis STD and TB Prevention Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention Atlanta GA 30333 USA

Primate Genetics Laboratory German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany

Primate Genetics Laboratory German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany; Gene Bank of Primates German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Göttingen Germany

Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute P O Box 661 Arusha Tanzania

Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases Pathology Unit German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany

Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases Pathology Unit German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany; Primate Genetics Laboratory German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research Kellnerweg 4 37077 Göttingen Germany

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Asiedu K., Fitzpatrick C., Jannin J. Eradication of yaws: historical efforts and achieving WHO's 2020 target. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2014;8(9) PubMed PMC

Barnard C.C. Yaws and flies; past and present opinions on the role of flies in the transmission of framboesia tropica. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1952;55(5):100–114. (contd) PubMed

Barnard C.C. Yaws and flies; past and present opinions on the role of flies in the transmission of framboesia tropica. II. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1952;55(6):135–141. PubMed

Castellani A. Experimental investigations on framboesia tropica (yaws) J. Hyg. 1907;7(4):558–569. (Cambridge) PubMed PMC

Emerson P.M., Bailey R.L., Mahdi O.S., Walraven G.E., Lindsay S.W. Transmission ecology of the fly Musca sorbens, a putative vector of trachoma. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2000;94(1):28–32. PubMed

Emerson P.M., Lindsay S.W., Walraven G.E. Effect of fly control on trachoma and diarrhoea. Lancet. 1999;353(9162):1401–1403. PubMed

Fribourg-Blanc A., Mollaret H.H. Natural treponematosis of the African primate. Primates Med. 1969;3(0):113–121. PubMed

Giacani L., Lukehart S.A. The endemic treponematoses. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2014;27(1):89–115. PubMed PMC

Gouy M., Guindon S., Gascuel O. SeaView version 4: a multiplatform graphical user interface for sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree building. Mol. Biol. Evol. 2010;27(2):221–224. PubMed

Grange P.A., Allix-Beguec C., Chanal J. Molecular subtyping of Treponema pallidum in Paris, France. Sex. Transm. Dis. 2013;40(8):641–644. PubMed

Gudger E.W. A second early note on the transmission of yaws by flies. Science. 1910;32(827):632–633. PubMed

Gudger E.W. An early note on flies as transmitters of disease. Science. 1910;31(784):31–32. PubMed

Gudger E.W. Further early notes on the transmission by flies of the disease called yaws. Science. 1911;33(846):427–428. PubMed

Harper K.N., Fyumagwa R.D., Hoare R. Treponema pallidum infection in the wild baboons of East Africa: distribution and genetic characterization of the strains responsible. PLoS One. 2012;7(12) PubMed PMC

Kiffner C., Wenner C., LaViolet A., Yeh K., Kioko J. From savannah to farmland: effects of land-use on mammal communities in the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, Tanzania. Afr. J. Ecol. 2015;53(2):156–166.

Knauf S., Batamuzi E.K., Mlengeya T. Treponema infection associated with genital ulceration in wild baboons. Vet. Pathol. 2012;49(2):292–303. PubMed

Knauf S., Dahlmann F., Batamuzi E.K., Frischmann S., Liu H. Validation of serological tests for the detection of antibodies against Treponema pallidum in nonhuman primates. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2015;9(3) PubMed PMC

Knauf S., Liu H., Harper K.N. Treponemal infection in nonhuman primates as possible reservoir for human yaws. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 2013;19(12):2058–2060. PubMed PMC

Kumm H.W. The digestive mechanism of one of the west Indian ‘eye gnats’: Hippelates pallipes Loew. Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 1935;29(3):283–303.

Kumm H.W. The natural infection of Hippelates pallipes Loew with the spirochaetes of yaws. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1935;29(3):265–272.

Kumm H.W., Turner T.B. The transmission of yaws from man to rabbits by an insect vector, Hippelates pallipes Loew. Am.J.Trop. Med. Hyg. 1936;s1–16(3):245–271.

Kumm H.W., Turner T.B., Peat A.A. The duration of motility of the spirochaetes of yaws in a small West Indian fly—Hippelates pallipes Loew. Am.J.Trop. Med. Hyg. 1935;s1–15(2):209–223.

Lamborn W.A. The experimental transmission to man of Treponema pertenue by the fly Musca sorbens, WD. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1936;15(39):235–239.

Liu H., Rodes B., Chen C.Y., Steiner B. New tests for syphilis: rational design of a PCR method for detection of Treponema pallidum in clinical specimens using unique regions of the DNA polymerase I gene. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2001;39(5):1941–1946. PubMed PMC

Lukehart S. Biology of Treponemes. In: Holmes K.K., Sparling P.F., Stamm W.E., editors. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 4 ed. Mc Graw Hill Medical; New York: 2008. pp. 647–659.

Marra C., Sahi S., Tantalo L. Enhanced molecular typing of Treponema pallidum: geographical distribution of strain types and association with neurosyphilis. J. Infect. Dis. 2010;202(9):1380–1388. PubMed PMC

Marra C.M., Tantalo L.C., Sahi S.K., Dunaway S.B., Lukehart S.A. Reduced Treponema pallidum-specific opsonic antibody activity in HIV-infected patients with syphilis. J. Infect. Dis. 2016;213(8):1348–1354. PubMed PMC

Mitja O., Asiedu K., Mabey D. Yaws. Lancet. 2013;381(9868):763–773. PubMed

Read P., Tagg K.A., Jeoffreys N., Guy R.J., Gilbert G.L., Donovan B. Treponema pallidum strain-types and association with macrolide resistance in Sydney, Australia: new tp0548 types identified. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2016 PubMed PMC

Robertson A. Flies as carriers of contagion in yaws (framboesia tropica) J. Trop. Med. 1908;213

Satchell G.H., Harrison R.A. Experimental observations on the possibility of transmission of yaws by wound-feeding Diptera, in Western Samoa. Trans. R. Soc. Trop. Med. Hyg. 1953;47(2):148–153. PubMed

Sena A.C., White B.L., Sparling P.F. Novel Treponema pallidum serologic tests: a paradigm shift in syphilis screening for the 21st century. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2010;51(6):700–708. PubMed

Smith J.L., David N.J., Indgin S. Neuro-ophthalmological study of late yaws and pinta. II. The Caracas project. Br. J. Vener. Dis. 1971;47(4):226–251. PubMed PMC

Song Z., Wang X., Liang G. Species identification of some common necrophagous flies in Guangdong province, southern China based on the rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) Forensic Sci. Int. 2008;175(1):17–22. PubMed

Thomson J.G., Lamborn W.A. Mechanical transmission of trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and yaws through the agency of non-biting Haematophagous flies: (preliminary note on experiments) Br. Med. J. 1934;2(3845):506–509. PubMed PMC

Zobaníková M., Strouhal M., Mikalova L. Whole genome sequence of the Treponema Fribourg-Blanc: unspecified simian isolate is highly similar to the yaws subspecies. PLoS Negl. Trop. Dis. 2013;7(4) PubMed PMC

Whole-genome sequencing reveals evidence for inter-species transmission of the yaws bacterium among nonhuman primates in Tanzania

The hare syphilis agent is related to, but distinct from, the treponeme causing rabbit syphilis

High prevalence and genetic diversity of Treponema paraluisleporidarum isolates in European lagomorphs

Strain diversity of Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue suggests rare interspecies transmission in African nonhuman primates

Multi-locus sequence typing of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum present in clinical samples from France: Infecting treponemes are genetically diverse and belong to 18 allelic profiles