| fleas on roof rats in six areas of los angeles county, california: their potential role in the transmission of plague and murine typhus to humans. | roof rats (rattus rattus) in southern california are rarely involved with plague epizootics and murine typhus. little evidence exists implicating these rodents as sources of human infection. this might be explained by the absence of fleas capable of transmitting these 2 diseases. from february 1981 through january 1982, roof rats were live-trapped and examined for fleas each month in 4 areas of los angeles county. two other areas were trapped for 9 and 3 months respectively. areas sampled were i ... | 1985 | 3985278 |
| urban focus of rickettsia typhi and rickettsia felis in los angeles, california. | abstract classic murine typhus, caused by rickettsia typhi, is endemic in the continental united states in areas of texas and southern california. we conducted an environmental investigation in an urban area of los angeles identified as the probable exposure site for a case of murine typhus. four rattus norvegicus heavily infested with xenopsylla cheopis (average 32.5 fleas per animal, range 20-42) were trapped, and fleas, blood, and tissues were collected. dnas from all specimens were tested fo ... | 2010 | 21142968 |
| molecular detection and identification of bartonella species in xenopsylla cheopis fleas (siphonaptera: pulicidae) collected from rattus norvegicus rats in los angeles, california. | of 200 individual xenopsylla cheopis fleas removed from rattus norvegicus rats trapped in downtown los angeles, ca, 190 (95%) were positive for the presence of bartonella dna. ninety-one amplicons were sequenced: bartonella rochalimae-like dna was detected in 66 examined fleas, and bartonella tribocorum-like dna was identified in 25 fleas. the data obtained from this study demonstrate an extremely high prevalence of bartonella dna in rat-associated fleas. | 2011 | 21908631 |