Some Experiments Concerning the Interchange of Rabbit Fleas, Spilopsyllus cuniculi (Dale), between Living Rabbit Hosts

Abstract

S. cuniculi is the principal vector of myxomatosis in Great Britain and knowledge of its host relationships is of epidemiological consequence. After fleas were scattered on the surface of a 1670 m2 pasture at low density (one group per 33.4 m2) 45% reached one or another of 3 rabbits within 25 days. Groups of marked fleas were released on captive wild rabbits which were subsequently placed in a 1670 m2 enclosed pasture and after varying periods all the fleas present on the rabbits were recovered and examined to determine whether any had changed their individual host. Although this flea is one which spends most of its life on a host''s body, rather than loose in the burrow, it was found to change its individual host more frequently than had been previously supposed. Consequently, as a vector it might transmit any strain of myxoma virus that at some stage produces suitably infectious lesions and not merely strains which are rapidly lethal.