Which disease is typically a relatively mild flea-borne illness transmitted from rats to humans, characterized by fever and headache and caused by a rat flea?

• A. Murine typhus fever
• B. Plague
• C. Rickettsial pox
• D. Dermatitis

Answer: (A)

Flea-borne infections that involve rats and their fleas typically spread when an infected rat flea bites a person, passing the bacteria into the bite. Murine typhus fits this pattern: it’s caused by Rickettsia typhi and spread by rat fleas such as Xenopsylla cheopis. The illness is usually milder than other zoonotic rickettsial diseases and classically presents with fever and headache, with rash occurring in some cases. This is distinct from plague, which can be more severe and classically involves buboes or pneumonia; and from rickettsial pox, which is transmitted by a different flea and often features a skin lesion at the bite site alongside fever. Dermatitis is not a systemic flea-borne infection from rats.