Molecular detection of zoonotic pathogens in fleas collected from dogs and cats in Portugal

Table 2 Prevalence of Bartonella spp., Rickettsia spp. and Dipylidium caninum in fleas collected from dogs and cats in mainland Portugal according to host and flea characteristics

Variable/categories	Tested		Bartonella spp.				Rickettsia spp.				Dipylidium caninum
	n	%	n	%	IC95%	P-value	n	%	IC95%	P-value	n	%	IC95%	P-value
Flea species	1261					0.193				0.032				0.733
Archaeopsylla erinacei	5	0.4	0	0.0	0.0–43.5		0	0.0	0.0–43.5		0	0.0	0.0–43.5
Ctenocephalides canis	54	4.3	1	1.9	0.3–9.8		2	3.7^b	1.0–12.5		0	0.0	0.0–6.6
Ctenocephalides felis	1188	94.2	102	8.6	7.1–10.3		200	16.8^a	14.8–19.1		23	1.9	1.3–2.9
Pulex irritans	14	1.1	2	14.3	4.0–39.9		2	14.3	4.0–39.9		0	0.0	0.0–21.5
Host	1261					< 0.001				0.146				0.834
Dog	656	52.0	15	2.3^b	1.7–4.3		116	17.7	15.0–20.8		11	1.7	0.9–3.0
Cat	605	48.0	90	14.9^a	12.4–18.1		88	14.5	12.0–17.6		12	2.0	1.1–3.4
Host lifestyle	1236					< 0.001				0.072				0.153
Sheltered	369	29.9	32	8.7	6.2–12.0		68	18.4	14.8–22.7		13	3.5	2.1–5.9
Stray	122	9.9	28	23.0^a	16.4–31.2		14	11.5	7.0–18.3		1	0.8	0.1–4.5
Domestic indoor	113	9.1	0	0.0^b	0.0–3.3		10	8.8	4.9–15-5		1	0.9	0.2–4.8
Domestic indoor-outdoor	457	37.0	32	7.0	5.0–9.7		80	17.5	14.3–21.3		5	1.1	0.5–2.5
Domestic outdoor	175	14.2	11	6.3	3.5–10.9		31	17.7	12.8–24.1		2	1.1	0.3–4.1
Region-NUTS II	1250					< 0.001				0.032				0.100
Norte	471	37.7	47	10.0	7.6–13.0		62	13.2^b	10.4–16.5		13	2.8	1.6–4.7
Centro	248	19.8	10	4.0^b	2.2–7.3		44	17.7	13.5–23.0		2	0.8	0.2–2.9
AML	96	7.7	23	24.0^a	16.5–33.4		25	26.0^a	18.3–35.6		1	1.0	0.2–5.7
Alentejo	188	15.0	18	9.6	6.1–14.6		32	17.0	12.3–23.0		3	1.6	0.5–4.6
Algarve	247	19.8	7	2.8^b	1.4–5.7		40	16.2	12.1–21.3		4	1.6	0.6–4.1
Parish type	1167					0.001				0.337				0.196
Non-rural	565	48.4	64	11.3^a	9.0–14.2		85	15.0	12.3–18.2		14	2.5	1.5–4.1
Rural	602	51.6	36	6.0^b	4.4–8.2		103	17.1	14.3–20.3		8	1.3	0.7–2.6
Total	1261		105	8.3	6.9–10.0		204	16.2	14.3–18.3		23	1.8	1.2–2.7