Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, U.S.A.
Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, U.S.A.
J Vector Ecol. 2024 Dec;49(2):R39-R49. doi: 10.52707/1081-1710-49.2.R39.
Flea-borne diseases are endemic in Texas, U.S.A., with an increasing incidence of flea-borne typhus and cat scratch disease. Knowledge of flea natural history could provide information to protect public health, yet many knowledge gaps remain outside of plague-endemic regions. Our objective was to characterize seasonal activity patterns of fleas on common mammalian wildlife species and test fleas and wildlife for and pathogens. We performed one year of monthly trapping for rodents and medium-sized mammals in a national forest with high recreational use and urban encroachment in East Texas. From 90 mammal captures representing seven species, 101 fleas were collected representing spp., , and species. Virginia opossums () hosted 99% of the collected fleas (100 fleas) and a single flea was on an eastern woodrat (). Flea infestation prevalence of opossums was 79% (23/29). Mean flea abundance was 4.39 fleas, with intensity peaking in spring. One cat flea removed from an opossum was positive for . Furthermore, we identified tissue or blood of four raccoons () and one golden mouse () positive for . These findings provide an ecological basis for the maintenance of vectors and pathogens from sylvatic settings.
跳蚤传播的疾病在美国德克萨斯州流行，跳蚤传播的斑疹伤寒和猫抓病的发病率不断上升。了解跳蚤的自然史可以为保护公众健康提供信息，但在鼠疫流行地区之外，仍有许多知识空白。我们的目的是描述常见哺乳动物野生动物物种上跳蚤的季节性活动模式，并对跳蚤和野生动物进行 和 病原体检测。我们在德克萨斯州东部一个森林中进行了为期一年的每月啮齿动物和中型哺乳动物的诱捕，该地区娱乐活动频繁，城市不断扩张。从 7 种哺乳动物中捕获的 90 只代表 7 种物种，共采集到 101 只跳蚤，代表 、 和 种。弗吉尼亚负鼠（）携带了 99%的采集到的跳蚤（100 只），只有一只在东部林鼠（）上。负鼠的跳蚤感染率为 79%（23/29）。平均跳蚤数量为 4.39 只，春季达到高峰。从一只负鼠身上取下的一只猫跳蚤检测呈 阳性。此外，我们还从 4 只浣熊（）和 1 只金仓鼠（）中鉴定出组织或血液呈 阳性。这些发现为从森林环境中维持媒介和病原体提供了生态基础。
