ABSTRACT
Fleas are small, laterally flattened, wingless insects (see box) that are of great importance as vectors of disease in many parts of the world.1,2 Public health workers are most concerned with fleas that carry the agents of bubonic plague and murine typhus from rats to people and fleas that transmit plague among wild rodents and secondarily to humans; however, there are other fleaborne diseases. Rickettsia felis, a member of a transitional group of rickettsiae, has been found worldwide in cat fleas and can apparently infect humans, producing a murine typhus-like illness.3-5 Certain rodent fleas are efficient vectors of Bartonella organisms.6 Also, fleas may serve as intermediate hosts for helminths such as the dog tapeworm (Figure 18.1). Despite
I. General and Medical Importance .................................................................... 181 A. Fleaborne Diseases ..................................................................................... 182 B. Cat and Dog Fleas, Ctenocephalides felis and C. canis ............................184 C. Oriental Rat Flea, Xenopsylla cheopis ........................................................184 D. Human Flea, Pulex irritans ........................................................................ 185 E. Chigoe Fleas, Tunga penetrans and Tunga trimamillata ......................... 185 F. Northern Rat Flea, Nosopsyllus fasciatus ................................................... 185 G. Sticktight Flea, Echidnophaga gallinacea .................................................. 185 H. Sand Fleas ................................................................................................... 185
II. General Description .........................................................................................186
