background: most fleas infest their host temporarily then pass to another of the same kind, while others move from one to a different host species. although the comprehensive list of fleas reported from iran, but there still exists considerable gap in our knowledge of zoonotic aspect of flea infestation. the present study was undertaken to determine correlation between domestic animals and man ...

ptinidae or spider beetles, is a worldwide family of beetles especially distributed in the subtropical and temperate zones including iran. niptus holoeucus (golden spider beetle) from kangohar cave in fars province (iran) is described as new record for iran. we regarded this beetle as a troglophile and guanophile species.

Two new species of Itagonia Reitter, 1887, Itagonia tibialis sp. n. and Itagonia litangensis sp. n. are described from Sichuan, China. A key to the known species of Itagonia from China is given.

The Yersinia pestis PhoPQ gene regulatory system is induced during infection of the flea digestive tract and is required to produce adherent biofilm in the foregut, which greatly enhances bacterial transmission during a flea bite. To understand the in vivo context of PhoPQ induction and to determine PhoP-regulated targets in the flea, we undertook whole-genome comparative transcriptional profil...

Yersinia pestis, the agent of plague, is transmitted to mammals by infected fleas. Y. pestis exhibits a distinct life stage in the flea, where it grows in the form of a cohesive biofilm that promotes transmission. After transmission, the temperature shift to 37 degrees C induces many known virulence factors of Y. pestis that confer resistance to innate immunity. These factors are not produced i...

The relative importance of environmental factors and host factors in explaining variation in prevalence and intensity of flea parasitism in small mammal communities is poorly established. We examined these relationships in an East African savanna landscape, considering multiple host levels: across individuals within a local population, across populations within species, and across species withi...