@article {77,
	title = {Potential role of head lice, Pediculus humanus capitis, as vectors of Rickettsia prowazekii},
	journal = {Parasitology research},
	volume = {90},
	year = {2003},
	month = {2003},
	pages = {209 - 211},
	abstract = {Since the pioneering work of Charles Nicolle in 1909 [see Gross (1996) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:10539-10540] most medical officers and scientists have assumed that body lice are the sole vectors of Rickettsia prowazekii, the aetiological agent of louse-borne epidemic typhus (LBET). Here we review the evidence for the axiom that head lice are not involved in epidemics of LBET. Laboratory experiments demonstrate the ability of head lice to transmit R. prowazekii, but evidence for this in the field has not been reported. However, the assumption that head lice do not transmit R. prowazekii has meant that head lice have not been examined for R. prowazekii during epidemics of LBET. The strong association between obvious (high) infestations of body lice and LBET has contributed to this perception, but this association does not preclude head lice as vectors of R. prowazekii. Indeed, where the prevalence and intensity of body louse infections may be high (e.g. during epidemics of LBET), the prevalence and intensity of head louse infestations is generally high as well. This review of the epidemiology of head louse and body louse infestations, and of LBET, indicates that head lice are potential vectors of R. prowazekii in the field. Simple observations in the field would reveal whether or not head lice are natural vectors of this major human pathogen.},
	keywords = {animals, humans, Insect vectors, Lice Infestations/epidemiology, Pediculus, Rickettsia prowazekii/physiology, typhus},
	isbn = {0932-0113},
	author = {Robinson,D. and Leo,Natalie P. and Prociv,P. and Barker,Stephen C.}
}
@article {85,
	title = {Intragenomic variation in ITS2 rDNA in the louse of humans, Pediculus humanus: ITS2 is not a suitable marker for population studies in this species},
	journal = {Insect Molecular Biology},
	volume = {11},
	year = {2002},
	month = {2002},
	pages = {651 - 657},
	abstract = {The two internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of ribosomal DNA are often used as markers of populations of insects. We studied the ITS2 of the head lice and body lice of humans, to determine whether this gene is a suitable marker of populations of these insects. ITS2 sequences were amplified by PCR from lice from four different countries: Australia, China, Japan and the USA. Direct cycle-sequencing of some of these PCR products gave equivocal nucleotide chromatograms. This indicated that some lice had more than one ITS2 sequence, so we cloned PCR products from these lice. Temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) revealed that 50 of the 67 clones we screened had different nucleotide sequences. All lice had several ITS2 types, including those with unequivocal chromatograms. A phylogenetic tree of 15 different ITS2 sequences showed that the sequences from individual lice were not monophyletic. We conclude that the ITS2 is not a useful marker of populations for Pediculus humanus.},
	keywords = {animals, Australia, Base Sequence, China, dna, geography, humans, Introns, Japan, Lice Infestations/parasitology, Molecular Sequence Data, Pediculus, phylogeny, polymerase, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, sequence, U.S.A., variation},
	url = {http://www.phthiraptera.info/Publications/44841.pdf},
	author = {Leo,Natalie P. and Barker,Stephen C.}
}
