16 



CIRCULAR 338, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



The human flea (fig. 13) appears to be the most common flea 

 attacking dogs and persons along the western coast of the United States 



and in parts of 

 the South. It 

 has substantially 

 the same habits 

 as have the dog 

 and cat fleas, but 

 spends more time 

 off its host ani- 

 mal than do these 

 fleas. 



The sticktight 

 flea (fig. 14) is 

 most common in 

 the Southern 

 and Southwest- 

 ern States, but 

 may occur as far 

 north as Kansas. 

 It is normally a 

 parasite of poul- 

 try and may occur 

 on birds in suffi- 

 cient numbers to 

 cause death. It 

 has little disposi- 

 tion to move 

 about on its host, 

 skin most of the time. Dogs 

 flea by contact with infested 



Figure 



Pulex irritans. Male 

 From Bishopp, 1921. 



Lateral view. 



but remains firmly attached to the 

 usually become infested with this 

 fowls and premises. 



Symptoms. — A number of spe- 

 cies, of fleas, including the dog 

 fleas, are known to carry the or- 

 ganism of bubonic plague, a very 

 serious disease which man shares 

 with such rodents as rats. This 

 plague occasionally occurs in the 

 United States. The human flea 

 is thought to convey infantile 

 kala-azar at times. The dog flea, 

 cat flea, and human flea act as 

 intermediate hosts of the double- 

 pored tapeworm, just as the bit- 

 ing louse has already been shown 

 to act. In the case of fleas the 

 larval fleas become infested with 

 the larval tapeworms by eating 

 tapeworm eggs present in con- 

 taminated trash, in bedding, and 

 elsewhere. Fleas are, therefore, dangerous as carriers of disease and 

 parasites. 



Figure 14.— The chicken flea or sticktight 

 Echidnophaga gallinacca. Female. Lateral view 

 Enlarged. From Bishopp, 1921. 



