DETECTION OF RICKETTSIA TYPHI AND SEASONAL PREVALENCE OF FLEAS COLLECTED FROM SMALL MAMMALS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Fleas were collected from live-captured small mammals to identify potential flea-borne pathogens, seasonal prevalence of flea species, and host preference as part of the US military rodent-borne diseases surveillance program conducted at one US military installation and 10 military training sites, northern Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea. During 2003–04, 948 fleas (563 females and 385 males) were recovered from 2,742 small mammals (seven rodent and one insectivore species). Apodemus agrarius (striped field mouse) accounted for 88.9% (2,439/2,742) of the small mammals, followed by Crocidura lasiura (4.2%), Mus musculus (2.9%), Microtus fortis (2.2%), Myodes regulus (0.6%), Micromys minutus (0.5%), Tscherskia triton (0.5%), and Rattus norvegicus (0.3%). Small mammal infestation rates (number with fleas/number captured) ranged from 7.7% (M. minutus and T. triton) to 31.3% (M. regulus). Flea indices were highest for M. regulus (0.69/captured rodent), followed by C. lasiura (0.54), M. fortis (0.41), A. agrarius (0.34), and R. norvegicus (0.33). Overall, Ctenophthalmus congeneroides (51.3%) was more frequently collected, followed by Stenoponia sidimi (42.6%), Rhadinopsylla insolita (5.5%), Neopsylla bidentatiformis (0.4%), Rhadinopsylla concava (0.1%), and Doratopsylla coreana (0.1%). Ctenophthalmus congeneroides was more frequently collected from small mammals during the spring and summer, while S. sidimi was more frequently collected during the winter season. Rickettsia typhi, the causative agent of murine typhus, was detected in 3.2% of specimens (7/220 pools from 654 fleas; minimum field infection rate [number of positive pools/total number of fleas] was 1.1%).