Volume 14, Number 10—October 2008
Dispatch
Rickettsia typhi and R. felis in Rat Fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis), Oahu, Hawaii
Marina E. Eremeeva
, Wesley R. Warashina, Michele M. Sturgeon, Arlene E. Buchholz, Gregory K. Olmsted, Sarah Y. Park, Paul V. Effler, and Sandor E. Karpathy
, Wesley R. Warashina, Michele M. Sturgeon, Arlene E. Buchholz, Gregory K. Olmsted, Sarah Y. Park, Paul V. Effler, and Sandor E. KarpathyTable
Prevalence of Rickettsia felis and R. typhi in Xenopsylla cheopis fleas by PCR, Oahu, Hawaii*
| Location | No. (%) positive collected in 2004 |
No. (%) positive collected in 2006 |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mice | Fleas | R. felis | R. typhi | R. felis and R. typhi | Mice | Fleas | R. felis | R. typhi | R felis and R. typhi | ||
| Ewa Beach | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hawaii Kai | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | |
| Honokai Hale | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 12 | 21 | 2 (10) | 0 | 0 | |
| Kapolei | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 7 | 10 | 2 (20) | 0 | 0 | |
| Ko Olina | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Maili | 0 | 0 | NA | NA | NA | 7 | 11 | 1 (9) | 0 | 0 | |
| Makaha | 12 | 23 | 9 (39) | 1 (4.3) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Makakilo | 17 | 25 | 8 (32) | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17 | 3 (18) | 1 (6) | 0 | |
| Nanakuli | 3 | 4 | 1 (25) | 1 (25) | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1(17) | 0 | 0 | |
| Waianae | 28 | 68 | 24 (35) | 1(1.5) | 1 (1.5) | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Subtotal | 61 | 122 | 42 (34) | 3 (3) | 1 (0.8) | 55 | 84 | 10(12) | 1 (1.2) | 0 | |
| Total† | 118 | 210 | 52 (25) | 4 (1.9) | 1 (0.05) | ||||||
*NA, not available (no samples were collected).
†Includes 2 mice and 4 fleas collected in 2007 from Nanakuli; these samples were PCR negative.
