An epidemiological study of rickettsia sera-prevalence in Tripoli, Libya

Rickettsia are vector-borne microorganisms (for example, lice, fleas, ticks, or mites) and have intricate life cycles. Rickettsial infections are typically thought of as peculiarities of travel medicine, connected to far-off places or close contact with animals. While endemic foci, often in coastal regions, can trigger periodic and frequently seasonal outbreaks, recent discoveries about rickettsial pathogens have shown their widespread global dispersion. Arthropod vectors maintain rickettsia in nature, but they often infect vertebrates, allowing new populations of vectors to pick up the infection from the rickettsial hosts. Reservoirs are populations of domesticated or wild vertebrates, whereas some species are mostly or entirely sustained via vertical transmission within their vector populations. It is important to distinguish this infection from other febrile disorders like enteric fever, malaria, dengue, leptospirosis, and infectious mononucleosis, as it is one of the primary causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO). Therefore, early recognition and correct diagnosis of rickettsial infections are needed to be able to apply preventive measures to control vector and zoonotic reservoirs and also to give chances for effective and inexpensive interventions at the right time. This study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence o rickettsial antibodies in the sera and provide better comprehension about the related risk factors. A total of 400 sera samples (277) males and 123 females ) were analyzed serologically with commercial ELISA kits and written questionnaires were also taken. The analysis resulted in 7.5% (7% were males and 0.5% females) of the total sera were Rickettsia IgG-antibody positive. 5.3% were IgGantibody positive and had history of travel whereas 3% were IgG-antibody positive and history of animal contact. This study, despite the low percentage, confirmed the presence of rickettsial antibodies in the population of Tripoli which emphasis for further investigations to be conducted in order to understand how much the disease is common in this geographical area and what factors could affect the spread of the disease.