Rodent fleas transmit which diseases?

• A. Plague and Hantavirus
• B. Plague and typhus
• C. Typhus and Bartonellosis
• D. Hantavirus and Leptospirosis

Answer: (B)

Rodent fleas act as vectors that transmit certain diseases from rodents to people. The two diseases most commonly linked to rodent fleas are plague and murine typhus. Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis and is classically spread when infected fleas bite humans after feeding on infected rodents. Murine typhus, caused by Rickettsia typhi, is carried by rat fleas that acquire the pathogen from infected rodents and then transmit it to humans through their bites.

In contrast, hantavirus is spread mainly through inhalation of dust contaminated with infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva, not through fleas. Leptospirosis spreads through contact with water or soil contaminated with the urine of infected animals, not via fleas. And while epidemic typhus is typically transmitted by body lice, the flea-borne typhus variant is the murine form associated with rodents.