Student Poster Display
Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology
Student
Student Competition
Jordan Salomon
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Emily Leeke
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Haydee Montemayor
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Cassandra Durden, M.S. (she/her/hers)
PHEFA fellow
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Fort Collins, Colorado
Lisa Auckland
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Sujata Balasubramanian
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Gabriel L. Hamer (he/him/his)
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Sarah A. Hamer
Professor
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Flea-borne diseases are endemic in Texas, USA, with an increasing incidence of human disease including flea-borne typhus and cat scratch disease. Knowledge of flea natural history could provide critical 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 pathogens in the Rickettsia and Bartonella genera. 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. Out of 90 mammal captures representing seven species, 101 fleas were collected representing Polygenis spp., Ctenocephalides felis, and Orchopeas species. Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginianus) hosted 99% of the collected fleas (100 fleas) and a single flea was found on an eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana). Flea infestation prevalence of opossums was 79% (23/29). Mean flea abundance was 4.39 fleas, with fleas encountered across all seasons and intensity peaking in spring. One cat flea removed from an opossum was positive for Bartonella henselae. Furthermore, we identified tissue or blood of three raccoons (Procyon lotor) and one golden mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli) positive for Rickettsia amblyommatis. Given the increasing public health concern of flea-borne disease, these findings provide an ecological basis for understanding the natural maintenance of vectors and pathogens from a sylvatic setting.