Flea is the common name for any of the small wingless insects of the order Siphonaptera.

Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds.

In most cases, fleas are just a nuisance to their hosts, but some people and some animals suffer allergic reactions to flea saliva resulting in rashes.

Flea bites generally result in the formation of a slightly-raised swollen itching spot with a single puncture point at the center.

Fleas can act as a vector for disease.

One possible example of this was the bubonic plague, which may have been transmitted between rodents and humans.

Murine typhus (endemic typhus) fever, and in some cases tapeworms, Hymenolepis, can also be transmitted by fleas..

For more information about the topic Flea, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:

Cat flea — The Cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) is one of the most abundant and widespread fleas in the world. The cat flea's primary host is the domestic cat, ...  > read more

Pest (animal) — A pest is an animal which has characteristics which people regard as injurious or unwanted. An example of serious pests are those organisms which ...  > read more

Louse — Lice (singular: louse) (order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Lice attach their eggs to their host's ...  > read more

Insect — Insects are invertebrate animals of the Class Insecta, the largest and (on land) most widely-distributed taxon within the Phylum Arthropoda. Insects ...  > read more

Related Stories

Once-a-Month Pill For Both Fleas And Ticks In Dogs And Cats (July 6, 2009) — Scientists are describing discovery and successful tests of the first once-a-month pill for controlling both fleas and ticks in domestic dogs and ...  > read more

Mouse Model Mimics Real-World Plague Infection (March 25, 2004) — An experimental plague vaccine proved 100 percent effective when tested in a new mouse model for plague infection developed by scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), part of the National ...  > read more

Cat Fleas' Journey Into The Vacuum Is A 'One-Way Trip' (December 22, 2007) — Homeowners dogged by household fleas need look no farther than the broom closet to solve their problem. Scientists have determined that vacuuming kills fleas in all stages of their lives, with an ...  > read more

Human Plague Cases Increasing In Southwest; Likely Cause: Global Climate Change (November 23, 1999) — Human plague, that dreaded disease of centuries past caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is on the rise, at least in the southwestern United States. ...  > read more

Single Gene Leap Led To Flea-Borne Transmission Of Plague Bacterium (April 26, 2002) — A single gene change in a relatively benign recent ancestor of the bacterium that causes bubonic plague played a key role in the evolution of the deadly disease, researchers report in the April 26 ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily

Sea Urchins Reveal Medical Mysteries