{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T13:04:32Z","timestamp":1791291872735,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Murine typhus is an acute undifferentiated febrile illness caused by <jats:italic>Rickettsia typhi<\/jats:italic>. The classic reservoir (<jats:italic>Rattus<\/jats:italic> spp.) and flea vector (<jats:italic>Xenopsylla cheopis<\/jats:italic>) were once culprits of murine typhus in the United States. Vector and rodent control efforts have drastically decreased the prevalence of disease, except in a few endemic foci where opossums and cat fleas play a role in transmission. Since 2012, there has been a reemergence of murine typhus in Galveston, TX. We hypothesize that opossums and cat fleas are involved in the transmission of <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> in Galveston. To explore this, we sought to find the seroprevalence of typhus group antibodies from opossums. We also sought to find the prevalence of <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> in fleas parasitizing these animals. We collected blood from 12 opossums and found that eight (66.7%) had the presence of anti-<jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> antibodies. All opossums were infested with fleas; a total of 250 <jats:italic>Ctenocephalides felis<\/jats:italic> fleas were collected from these animals. Seven opossums (53.8%) were infested with fleas that had molecular evidence of <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> infection, while six (46.2%) were infested with fleas that contained <jats:italic>Candidatus<\/jats:italic> Rickettsia senegalensis, an organism closely related to <jats:italic>R. felis<\/jats:italic>. The minimum flea infection rate for <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> was 7.0%. The minimum infection rate for <jats:italic>Candidatus<\/jats:italic> R. senegalensis was 6.1%. Our study demonstrates that fleas infected with <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> parasitize opossums in Galveston. It is therefore likely that opossums and their fleas play a role in the city's recent reemergence of murine typhus.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.16-0197","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,7]],"date-time":"2016-06-07T03:04:20Z","timestamp":1465268660000},"page":"457-461","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":69,"title":["Opossums and Cat Fleas: New Insights in the Ecology of Murine Typhus in Galveston, Texas"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"95","author":[{"given":"Lucas S.","family":"Blanton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Boluwatife M.","family":"Idowu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tyler N.","family":"Tatsch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"2School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joshua M.","family":"Henderson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"3Galveston Police Department Animal Services Unit, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Donald H.","family":"Bouyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"4Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David H.","family":"Walker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"4Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"ref1","series-title":"Clin Infect Dis","first-page":"913","article-title":"Murine typhus: an unrecognized 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