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. 2015 May 1:8:256.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-015-0852-z.

Transmission efficiency of the plague pathogen (Y. pestis) by the flea, Xenopsylla skrjabini, to mice and great gerbils

Yujiang Zhang  1 , Xiang Dai  2 , Qiguo Wang  3 , Hongjian Chen  4 , Weiwei Meng  5 , Kemei Wu  6 , Tao Luo  7 , Xinhui Wang  8 , Azhati Rehemu  9 , Rong Guo  10 , Xiaotao Yu  11 , Ruifu Yang  12 , Hanli Cao  13 , Yajun Song  14
Affiliations

Transmission efficiency of the plague pathogen (Y. pestis) by the flea, Xenopsylla skrjabini, to mice and great gerbils

Yujiang Zhang et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Plague, a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, is characterized by its ability to persist in the plague natural foci. Junggar Basin plague focus was recently identified in China, with Rhombomys opimus (great gerbils) and Xenopsylla skrjabini as the main reservoir and vector for plague. No transmission efficiency data of X. skrjabini for Y. pestis is available till now.

Methods: In this study, we estimated the median infectious dose (ID50) and the blockage rates of X. skrjabini with Y. pestis, by using artificial feeders. We then evaluated the flea transmission ability of Y. pestis to the mice and great gerbils via artificial bloodmeal feeding. Finally, we investigated the transmission of Y. pestis to mice with fleas fed by infected great gerbils.

Results: ID50 of Y. pestis to X. skrjabini was estimated as 2.04 × 10(5) CFU (95% CI, 1.45 × 10(5) - 3.18 × 10(5) CFU), around 40 times higher than that of X. cheopis. Although fleas fed by higher bacteremia bloodmeal had higher infection rates for Y. pestis, they lived significantly shorter than their counterparts. X. skrjabini could get fully blocked as early as day 3 post of infection (7.1%, 3/42 fleas), and the overall blockage rate of X. cheopis was estimated as 14.9% (82/550 fleas) during the 14 days of investigation. For the fleas infected by artificial feeders, they seemed to transmit plague more efficiently to great gerbils than mice. Our single flea transmission experiments also revealed that, the transmission capacity of naturally infected fleas (fed by infected great gerbils) was significantly higher than that of artificially infected ones (fed by artificial feeders).

Conclusion: Our results indicated that ID50 of Y. pestis to X. skrjabini was higher than other fleas like X. cheopis, and its transmission efficiency to mice might be lower than other flea vectors in the artificial feeding modes. We also found different transmission potentials in the artificially infected fleas and the naturally infected ones. Further studies are needed to figure out the role of X. skrjabini in the plague epidemiological cycles in Junggar Basin plague focus.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The infection rates of X. skrjabini via bloodmeal feeding with different bacteremia levels and feeding frequencies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The survival rates of X. skrjabini fed by bloodmeals with different bacteremia levels.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The blockage rates of X. skrjabini fed by Y. pestis spiked bloodmeal (1.0 × 1010 CFU/ml), and the flea numbers were shown in the brackets under the days post infection. A). Blockage status of fleas investigated daily. B). Cumulative percentages of blockages for the investigated fleas (for example, blocked percentage of day 5 p. i. was calculated by the total blocked fleas and total investigated fleas from day 1 to day 5 p. i.).
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