title: Feeding Behavior Modulates Biofilm-Mediated Transmission of Yersinia pestis by the Cat Flea, Ctenocephalides felis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis, is prevalent worldwide, will parasitize animal reservoirs of plague, and is associated with human habitations in known plague foci. Despite its pervasiveness, limited information is available about the cat flea's competence as a vector for Yersinia pestis. It is generally considered to be a poor vector, based on studies examining early-phase transmission during the first week after infection, but transmission potential by the biofilm-dependent proventricular-blocking mechanism has never been systematically evaluated. In this study, we assessed the vector competence of cat fleas by both mechanisms. Because the feeding behavior of cat fleas differs markedly from important rat flea vectors, we also examined the influence of feeding behavior on transmission dynamics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Groups of cat fleas were infected with Y. pestis and subsequently provided access to sterile blood meals twice-weekly, 5 times per week, or daily for 4 weeks and monitored for infection, the development of proventricular biofilm and blockage, mortality, and the ability to transmit. In cat fleas allowed prolonged, daily access to blood meals, mimicking their natural feeding behavior, Y. pestis did not efficiently colonize the digestive tract and could only be transmitted during the first week after infection. In contrast, cat fleas that were fed intermittently, mimicking the feeding behavior of the efficient vector Xenopsylla cheopis, could become blocked and regularly transmitted Y. pestis for 3-4 weeks by the biofilm-mediated mechanism, but early-phase transmission was not detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The normal feeding behavior of C. felis, more than an intrinsic resistance to infection or blockage by Y. pestis, limits its vector competence. Rapid turnover of midgut contents results in bacterial clearance and disruption of biofilm accumulation in the proventriculus. Anatomical features of the cat flea foregut may also restrict transmission by both early-phase and proventricular biofilm-dependent mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bland
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America.
authors.forename: B Joseph
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hinnebusch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058251:Ctenocephalides / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010930:Plague / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D012756:Sheep; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000502:physiology*
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