{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,11]],"date-time":"2025-09-11T17:02:36Z","timestamp":1757610156062,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756857600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT.<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This survey was conducted with the aim of determining the public health risk of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and murine typhus in the urban and peri-urban areas of El Paso, as well as other areas in Texas, southern New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The approach was to assess the diversity of tick and flea species, determine if the ticks and fleas were infected with <jats:italic>Rickettsia rickettsii<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Rickettsia typhi<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic>), respectively, and assess previous human infection with <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> species. Ticks and fleas were collected from domestic and wild animals and tested using a nested polymerase chain reaction assay. Human plasma samples were also tested for antibodies using an indirect fluorescence assay. Among 203 fleas, including <jats:italic>Pulex irritans<\/jats:italic>, <jats:italic>Echidnophaga gallinacea,<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Ctenocephalides felis<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>C. felis<\/jats:italic>), collected from wild and domestic small mammals, only one pool of four <jats:italic>C. felis<\/jats:italic> collected from a dog in the El Paso community was positive for <jats:italic>Rickettsia felis.<\/jats:italic> All 194 <jats:italic>Rhipicephalus sanguineus<\/jats:italic> ticks collected from stray and domestic dogs in the El Paso community, southern Do\u00f1a Ana County, and Ciudad Juarez were negative for <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> spp. In Travis County, Texas, a total of 207 ticks collected from white-tailed deer, including 196 <jats:italic>Ixodes scapularis<\/jats:italic> and 11 <jats:italic>Dermacentor albipictus<\/jats:italic>, were negative for <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> spp. pathogens. Among 375 archived human plasma samples collected in the El Paso community, only two were positive for <jats:italic>R. typhi<\/jats:italic> antibodies. These preliminary findings suggested that tick- and flea-borne diseases were not a major health risk in the El Paso community or the other areas included in this survey.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.24-0709","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,17]],"date-time":"2025-06-17T14:25:34Z","timestamp":1750170334000},"page":"659-665","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Survey of Fleas and Ticks for Rickettsia rickettsii and Rickettsia typhi in the El Paso Community and Other Areas in Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"113","author":[{"given":"Karen R.","family":"Valdez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellow, Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nicole L.","family":"Mendell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ang\u00e9lica Mar\u00eda","family":"Esc\u00e1rcega-\u00c1vila","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Science, Institute of Biomedical Science, Autonomous University of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Chihuahua, Mexico;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"de la Mora-Covarrubias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Science, Autonomous University of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico, Chihuahua, Mexico;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Florinda","family":"Jim\u00e9nez-Vega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Science, Institute of Biomedical Science, Autonomous University of Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Chihuahua, Mexico;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kenneth A.","family":"Waldrup","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Texas Department of State Health Services, Zoonosis Control, El Paso, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Veronica","family":"Suarez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Texas Department of State Health Services, El Paso, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"John C.","family":"Morrill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orion Research and Management Services, Gatesville, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Caroline T.","family":"Weldon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Western Gulf Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases, Institute for Human Infection and Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Donald H.","family":"Bouyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David H.","family":"Walker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Scott C.","family":"Weaver","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucas S.","family":"Blanton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pedro M.","family":"Palermo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas;"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Douglas M.","family":"Watts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"year":"2016","key":"b1","article-title":"Vector-Borne Diseases."},{"key":"b2","series-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep","first-page":"496","article-title":"Vital signs: Trends in reported vectorborne disease cases \u2013 United States and Territories, 2004\u20132016","volume":"67","author":"Rosenberg","year":"2018"},{"year":"2016","series-title":"Changing Paradigms for Tick-Borne Diseases in the Americas","author":"Paddock","key":"b3"},{"key":"b4","series-title":"Lancet","first-page":"1946","article-title":"Drivers, dynamics, and control of emerging vector-borne zoonotic diseases","volume":"380","author":"Kilpatrick","year":"2012"},{"key":"b5","series-title":"Annu Rev Entomol","first-page":"61","article-title":"Transmission of flea-borne zoonotic agents","volume":"57","author":"Eisen","year":"2012"},{"key":"b6","series-title":"Int J Infect Dis","first-page":"e667","article-title":"Fleas and flea-borne diseases","volume":"14","author":"Bitam","year":"2010"},{"key":"b7","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"53","article-title":"Flea-Borne Rickettsioses and Rickettsiae","volume":"96","author":"Blanton","year":"2017"},{"key":"b8","series-title":"N Engl J Med","first-page":"587","article-title":"Rocky Mountain spotted fever from an unexpected tick vector in Arizona","volume":"353","author":"Demma","year":"2005"},{"key":"b9","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"645","article-title":"Typhus Group Rickettsiosis, Texas, USA, 2003\u20132013","volume":"23","author":"Murray","year":"2017"},{"key":"b10","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1621","article-title":"Fatal Rocky Mountain spotted fever along the United States-Mexico Border, 2013\u20132016","volume":"23","author":"Drexler","year":"2017"},{"key":"b11","series-title":"Lancet Infect Dis","first-page":"e189","article-title":"Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Mexico: Past, present, and future","volume":"17","author":"\u00c1lvarez-Hern\u00e1ndez","year":"2017"},{"key":"b12","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"1","article-title":"Rickettsia typhi in Southern California: A growing flea-borne threat","volume":"110","author":"Blanton","year":"2023"},{"key":"b13","series-title":"Infect Dis Rep","first-page":"700","article-title":"Murine typhus: A review of a reemerging flea-borne rickettsiosis with potential for neurologic manifestations and sequalae","volume":"15","author":"Blanton","year":"2023"},{"key":"b14","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"698","article-title":"The emergence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico requires a binational One Health approach","volume":"262","author":"Foley","year":"2024"},{"key":"b15","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e0012276","article-title":"Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a neglected tropical disease in Latin America","volume":"18","author":"\u00c1lvarez-Hern\u00e1ndez","year":"2024"},{"key":"b16","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e0010738","article-title":"A forty-year review of Rocky Mountain spotted fever cases in California shows clinical and epidemiologic changes","volume":"16","author":"Kjemtrup","year":"2022"},{"key":"b17","series-title":"Ecological Dynamics of Tick-Borne Zoonoses","first-page":"314","author":"Schriefer","year":"1994"},{"key":"b18","series-title":"Trop Med Infect Dis","first-page":"2","article-title":"History, rats, fleas, and opossums. II. The decline and resurgence of flea-borne typhus in the United States, 1945\u20132019","volume":"6","author":"Anstead","year":"2020"},{"key":"b19","series-title":"Pathogens","first-page":"154","article-title":"A One Health perspective on the resurgence of flea-borne typhus in Texas in the 21st Century: Part 1: The bacteria, the cat flea, urbanization, and climate change","volume":"14","author":"Anstead","year":"2025"},{"key":"b20","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"142","article-title":"Surveillance of flea-borne typhus in California, 2011-2019","volume":"110","author":"Yomogida","year":"2023"},{"key":"b21","series-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep","first-page":"838","article-title":"Fleaborne typhus-associated deaths \u2013 Los Angeles County, California, 2022","volume":"72","author":"Alarcon","year":"2023"},{"key":"b22","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1443","article-title":"Spotted fever and typhus group rickettsiae in dogs and humans, Mexico, 2022","volume":"29","author":"Palacios-Santana","year":"2023"},{"year":"1996","series-title":"Pictorial Keys of Arthropods, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals of Public Health Significance","key":"b23"},{"key":"b24","series-title":"Insects","first-page":"315","article-title":"Detection of rickettsiae, borreliae, and ehrlichiae in ticks collected from Walker County, Texas, 2017\u20132018","volume":"10","author":"Mendell","year":"2019"},{"key":"b25","series-title":"J Clin Microbiol","first-page":"51","article-title":"Microimmunofluorescence test for the serological study of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and typhus","volume":"3","year":"1976"},{"year":"2004","series-title":"Clinical Microbiology Procedures Handbook","author":"Dumler","key":"b26"},{"key":"b27","series-title":"Int J Syst Evol Microbiol","first-page":"965","article-title":"Rickettsia buchneri sp. nov., a rickettsial endosymbiont of the blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis","volume":"65","author":"Kurtti","year":"2015"},{"key":"b28","series-title":"Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl","first-page":"252","article-title":"Molecular screening for rickettsial bacteria and piroplasms in ixodid ticks surveyed from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and nilgai antelope (Boselaphus tragocamelus) in southern Texas","volume":"13","author":"Olafson","year":"2020"},{"key":"b29","series-title":"ILAR J","first-page":"319","article-title":"Tick-borne zoonoses in the United States: Persistent and emerging threats to human health","volume":"58","author":"Eisen","year":"2017"},{"key":"b30","series-title":"Trends Parasitol","first-page":"295","article-title":"The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis: An increasing public health concern","volume":"34","author":"Eisen","year":"2018"},{"key":"b31","series-title":"Curr Top Microb Immunol","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-70962-6_12","article-title":"Ecological havoc, the rise of white-tailed deer, and the emergence of Amblyomma americanum-asociated zoonoses in the United States","volume":"315","author":"Paddock","year":"2007"},{"key":"b32","series-title":"Vet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports","first-page":"58","article-title":"Temperate and tropical lineages of brown dog ticks in North America","volume":"7","author":"Jones","year":"2017"},{"key":"b33","series-title":"Pathogens","first-page":"552","article-title":"Possible association between selected tick-borne pathogen prevalence and Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato infestation in dogs from Juarez City (Chihuahua), Northwest Mexico-US Border","volume":"11","author":"Beristain-Ruiz","year":"2022"},{"key":"b34","series-title":"Exp Appl Acarol","first-page":"277","article-title":"Seasonal distribution of Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on dogs in an urban area of Morelos, Mexico","volume":"23","author":"Cruz-Vazquez","year":"1999"},{"key":"b35","series-title":"Vet Rec","first-page":"59","article-title":"Prevalence of Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks on dogs in a region on the Mexico-USA border","volume":"164","author":"Tinoco-Gracia","year":"2009"},{"key":"b36","series-title":"PLoS One","first-page":"e0292573","article-title":"Science abhors a surveillance vacuum: Detection of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in southern New Mexico through passive surveillance","volume":"19","author":"Harman","year":"2024"},{"key":"b37","series-title":"Parasit Vectors","first-page":"26","article-title":"Biology and ecology of the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus","volume":"3","author":"Dantas-Torres","year":"2010"},{"key":"b38","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1944","article-title":"Rickettsial disease outbreak, Mexico, 2022","volume":"29","author":"Estrada-Mendizabal","year":"2023"},{"key":"b39","series-title":"MMWR Recomm Rep","first-page":"1","article-title":"Diagnosis and management of tickborne rickettsial diseases: Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other spotted fever group rickettsioses, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis \u2013 United States","volume":"65","author":"Biggs","year":"2016"},{"key":"b40","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e0009353","article-title":"Rickettsial infections: A blind spot in our view of neglected tropical diseases","volume":"15","author":"Salje","year":"2021"},{"key":"b41","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"22","article-title":"Unbiased assessment of abundance of Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato ticks, canine exposure to spotted fever group Rickettsia, and risk factors in Mexicali, M\u00e9xico","volume":"101","author":"Foley","year":"2019"},{"key":"b42","series-title":"Exp Appl Acarol","first-page":"559","article-title":"Molecular detection of Rickettsia species in ticks collected in the Mexico-USA transboundary region","volume":"80","author":"Merino","year":"2020"},{"key":"b43","series-title":"Ticks Tick Borne Dis","first-page":"102344","article-title":"A mutation associated with resistance to synthetic pyrethroids is widespread in US populations of the tropical lineage of Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l","volume":"15","author":"Stone","year":"2024"},{"key":"b44","series-title":"Ticks Tick Borne Dis","first-page":"102050","article-title":"Diversity and geographic distribution of rickettsial agents identified in brown dog ticks from across the United States","volume":"13","author":"Lineberry","year":"2022"},{"key":"b45","series-title":"Tex Med","first-page":"66","article-title":"Tick-borne diseases in Texas: A 10-year retrospective examination of cases","volume":"94","author":"Billings","year":"1998"},{"key":"b46","series-title":"J Med Entomol","first-page":"102","article-title":"Geographic distribution and seasonality of brown dog tick lineages in the United States","volume":"60","author":"Grant","year":"2023"},{"key":"b47","series-title":"Annu Rev Entomol","first-page":"451","article-title":"The biology, ecology, and management of the cat flea","volume":"42","author":"Rust","year":"1997"},{"key":"b48","series-title":"Parasit Vectors","first-page":"137","article-title":"Climate change models predict southerly shift of the cat flea (Ctenocephakides felis) distribution in Australia","volume":"12","author":"Crkvencic","year":"2019"},{"key":"b49","series-title":"J Med Entomol","first-page":"1543","article-title":"A new record of fleas from nilgai antelope in southern Texas and fleas from other wildlife","volume":"61","author":"Mays Maestas","year":"2024"},{"year":"2016","series-title":"Mammals of Texas","author":"Schmidly","key":"b50"},{"key":"b51","series-title":"Texas State J Med","first-page":"332","article-title":"An epidemiological investigation of typhus fever in Texas, 1943-1945","volume":"42","author":"Irons","year":"1946"},{"series-title":"Murine Typhus; Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Surveillance Division","key":"b52"},{"key":"b53","article-title":"Flea-BorneTyphus Cases in Texas by County Reported 2008-2019"},{"key":"b54","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"457","article-title":"Opossums and cat fleas: New insights in the ecology of murine typhus in Galveston, Texas","volume":"95","author":"Blanton","year":"2016"},{"key":"b55","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"311","article-title":"The changing ecology of murine (endemic) typhus in Southern California","volume":"19","author":"Adams","year":"1970"},{"key":"b56","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"319","article-title":"Flea-borne rickettsioses: Ecologic considerations","volume":"3","author":"Azad","year":"1997"},{"key":"b57","series-title":"Texas J Sci","first-page":"190","article-title":"Rare account of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) from Trans-Pecos Texas","volume":"69","author":"Yancey","year":"2017"},{"key":"b58","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"291","article-title":"Rickettsial infections among cats and cat fleas in Riverside County, California","volume":"99","author":"Mullins","year":"2018"},{"key":"b59","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e0006385","article-title":"A 2015 outbreak of flea-borne rickettsiosis in San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles County, California","volume":"12","author":"Nelson","year":"2018"},{"key":"b60","series-title":"Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis","first-page":"557","article-title":"Prevalence of Rickettsia rickettsii in ticks: Systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"21","author":"Ribeiro","year":"2021"}],"container-title":["The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/113\/3\/article-p659.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/tpmd\/113\/3\/article-p659.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/tpmd\/113\/3\/article-p659.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T13:14:20Z","timestamp":1756905260000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/113\/3\/article-p659.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]},"references-count":60,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4269\/ajtmh.24-0709","relation":{},"ISSN":["0002-9637","1476-1645"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0002-9637"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1476-1645"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]}}}