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Oriental rat flea - Xenopsylla cheopsis

Oriental rat flea or Xenopsylla cheopsis is one of the most infamous insects in the world as it is the primary vector of The Black Plague bacteria – Yersinia pestis. About 100 other flea species all around the world can also be infected by plague bacillus.

As rat flea feeds on blood of infected rodents, the bacterium multiplies in the flea's digestive tract, blocking the gut. The fleas continue to feed, but have to regurgitate thec ontents of their gut to do so and in such a way they infect a new host with Yersinia bacteria.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), the first documented pandemic, the Justinian plague, killed several million people in the Byzantine Empire during the 6th to 8th centuries. The second pandemic, the “Black Death”, caused some 25 million deaths (more than 30% of the European population) starting in the mid 14th century and culminating with the Great Plague of London in 1665. The third pandemic started in China in the middle of the 19th century and caused 10 million deaths in India alone.

The last plague epidemic in the United States was in Los Angeles in 1924-1925. During the several last decades of XX century approximately 12 plague cases annually were reported in U. S.

Oriental rat flea is believed to be the principal carrier of murine (or endemic) typhus, which is a disease, caused by bacteria Rickettsia typhi. The natural sources of this infection are rats and mice. Murine typhus occurs in the southeastern and southern United States and is rarely deadly.