Here, we provide the first mass molecular screening of medically important mosquitoes for Bartonella species using multiple genetic markers. We examined a total of 72,115 mosquito specimens, morphologically attributed to Aedes vexans (61,050 individuals), Culex pipiens (10,484 individuals) and species of the Anopheles maculipennis complex (581 individuals) for Bartonella spp. The initial screening yielded 63 Bartonella-positive A. vexans mosquitoes (mean prevalence 0.1%), 34 Bartonella-positive C. pipiens mosquitoes (mean prevalence 0.3%) and 158 Bartonella-positive A. maculipennis group mosquitoes (mean prevalence 27.2%). Several different Bartonella ITS sequences were recovered. This study highlights the need for molecular screening of mosquitoes, the most important vectors of arthropod-borne pathogens, for potential bacterial agents.

Biomedical Research Center Institute of Virology Dúbravská cesta 9 84505 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Department of Epidemiology Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 615 N Wolfe St Baltimore MD 21205 USA

Division of Vector Borne Diseases Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fort Collins CO 80521 USA

Institute of Parasitology Slovak Academy of Sciences Košice Slovak Republic

Institute of Parasitology University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice Košice Slovak Republic

The Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Biology Květná 8 603 65 Brno Czech Republic

The National Institute of Public Health Praha Czech Republic

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