Abstract
Fleas are worldwide vectors of several important zoonoses transmitted to humans through bites or following contact and inoculation with flea faeces [1]. Fleas and human flea-borne infections have been scarcely studied in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos). Murine typhus, a typhus group rickettsiosis induced by Rickettsia typhi and transmitted by X. cheopis, is known to occur in Laos but cases are poorly documented [2]. In a recent prospective study, acute Rickettsia typhi infection was identified as being the cause of fever in 9.6% of 427 adults with negative blood cultures admitted to Mahosot Hospital in Vientiane, Laos [2]. In this work, in an effort to identify the possible aetiologic agents and vectors for fleaborne agents affecting humans, we analysed fleas collected in Laos for evidence of rickettsial infection.
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