ORIENTAL RAT FLEA

Oriental Rat Flea – Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild).  This is the flea that is responsible for the transmission of the cause of bubonic plague, also known as the “black death”, a disease which wiped out about one-fourth of the world’s population in the 1300’s.  Still today, bubonic plague cases are still being found, however the spread of this disease is kept in check by the control of rodent population where the flea is found.  It will occasionally bite people but the preferred host is rats and mice.