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Fleas aren't a sign of a home's cleanliness. Instead, experts said they're a regular part of the environment. ... She said a main determinant if you have fleas are long itchy red bites on the skin ...
The human flea (Pulex irritans) – once also called the house flea [1] – is a cosmopolitan flea species that has, in spite of the common name, a wide host spectrum.It is one of six species in the genus Pulex; the other five are all confined to the Nearctic and Neotropical realms. [2]
By stage 2 (days 1–2), penetration is complete and the flea has burrowed most of its body into the skin. Only the anus, the copulatory organs, and four rear air holes in fleas called stigmata remain on the outside of the epidermis. The anus will excrete feces that is thought to attract male fleas for mating, described in a later section.
Flea bites cause a slightly raised, swollen, irritating nodule to form on the epidermis at the site of each bite, with a single puncture point at the centre, like a mosquito bite. [ 34 ] : 126 This can lead to an eczematous itchy skin disease called flea allergy dermatitis , which is common in many host species, including dogs and cats. [ 29 ]
While not a flea, the biting insect no-see-ums (family Ceratopogonidae) are sometimes mistaken for sand fleas. These are small flies found in salt marshes and swamps that leave itchy bites.
The most infamous flea-to-human transmitted disease is the bubonic plague, which was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
It is mainly a disease in the fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) that infested the rats, making the rats themselves the first victims of the plague. Rodent-borne infection in a human occurs when a person is bitten by a flea that has been infected by biting a rodent that itself has been infected by the bite of a flea carrying the disease.
Don't let fleas take over your house. Follow these expert tips on how to get rid of fleas on pets (dogs included!), furniture, bedding and even in your yard.