We compared patterns of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) differentiation in three host-specific lice (Halipeurus abnormis, Austromenopon echinatum and Saemundssonia peusi) and one generalist flea (Xenopsylla gratiosa), parasitizing 22 colonies of Cory's and Cape Verde shearwater (Calonectris). The shearwater hosts show distinct phylogeographic structure corresponding to the three taxa Calonectris d. d...

It is scarcely necessary to emphasize the .j important part played by fleas in the dissemina; tion of plague. The experimental researches of the Indian Plague Commission (1906) have definitely established the transmission of bubonic plague from rat to rat, from rat to man, and from man to man by the agency of rat fleas. Though over 25 species of Xcnopsylla are known to entomologists, only three...

Cinkovich SS, Lambin EF. Disease risk and landscape attributes of tick-borne Borrelia pathogens in the San Francisco Bay area, California. PLoS ONE. 2015;10:e0134812. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0134812 7. Barbour AG. Phylogeny of a relapsing fever Borrelia species transmitted by the hard tick Ixodes scapularis. Infect Genet Evol. 2014;27:551–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.20...

Study on the prevalence of ectoparasites and haemoparasites of domestic rats in parts of Akure South Local Government was carried out from July to September 2015. The rodents were trapped using locally fabricated traps. Body brushing technique was used to collect their ectoparasites. Blood samples from each rat were collected and examine using standard biological techniques. Specie of rodents c...

To accommodate a migratory life history, migrants express a greater number of physiological and behavioral stages per annum than residents and are thus considered to have higher finite state diversity (FSD). To investigate the physiological mechanisms and constraints associated with migration, direct comparison of two subspecies of white-crowned sparrow - migrant, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambeli...

To the Editor: Roseomonas, which produces pink colonies, is a newly described genus of gram-negative bacteria (1). Human infections with Roseomonas spp. have been reported in the past decade, mostly in immunocompromised persons with underlying diseases such as acute leukemia, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis (2–5). A healthy woman was reported to be infected by R. gilardii after being bitten by...

Plague is a rodent disease transmissible to humans by infected flea bites, and Madagascar is one of the countries with the highest plague incidence in the world. This study reports the susceptibility of the main plague vector Xenopsylla cheopis to 12 different insecticides belonging to 4 insecticide families (carbamates, organophosphates, pyrethroids and organochlorines). Eight populations from...

Fleas are vectors for a number of pathogens including Yersinia pestis, yet factors that govern interactions between fleas and Y. pestis are not well understood. Examining gene expression changes in infected fleas could reveal pathways that affect Y. pestis survival in fleas and subsequent transmission. We used suppression subtractive hybridization to identify genes that are induced in Xenopsyll...

Context. Plague is a serious health problem in northern Tanzania, with outbreaks since 2008 in two districts located in Rift Valley. There is dearth of knowledge on diversity of small mammal and flea fauna occurring in this plague focus. Knowledge on interactions between fleas and rodent species that harbour the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is important for developing strategies for contr...