Rats in New York City carry a species of flea that is capable of transmitting plague pathogens.
For a new study, researchers collected more than 6,500 specimens of five well-known species of fleas, lice, and mites from 133 rats. Among them they found more than 500 Oriental rat fleas, notorious for their role in the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.
Researchers wanted to look most closely at the rat flea because of its potential as a vector for human disease, says Matthew Frye, an urban entomologist with Cornell University’s New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program. “If these rats carry fleas that could transmit the plague to people, then the pathogen itself is the only piece missing from the transmission cycle.”
Prairie Dogs and Squirrels
Where is the plague found these days? In the United States, it’s found in the American Southwest among ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and the fleas they harbor, infecting roughly 10 people each year. In other parts of the world, the incidence of plague is higher.
