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Human Dermatitis Caused by the Flying Squirrel's Flea, Ceratophyllus

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Human Dermatitis Caused by the Flying Squirrel's Flea, Ceratophyllus 〔Med. Entomol. Zool. Vol. 72 No. 1 p. 33‒34 2021〕 33 reference DOI: 10.7601/mez.72.33 Note Human dermatitis caused by the ying squirrel’s ea, Ceratophyllus indages indages (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) in Hokkaido, Japan Takeo Y*, 1), Hayato K2) and Tatsuo O2) * Corresponding author: [email protected] 1) Laboratory of Entomology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho Nishi 2‒11, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080‒8555, Japan 2) Laboratory of Wildlife Biology, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho Nishi 2‒11, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080‒8555, Japan (Received: 28 September 2020; Accepted: 31 October 2020) Abstract: is report describes human dermatitis that is caused by the bite of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) indages indages (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) from the Siberian ying squirrel Pteromys volans orii in Hokkaido, Japan. is case represents the rst description of human dermatitis caused by the bite of C. i. indages. Key words: Ceratophyllus indages indages, ectoparasite, human dermatitis, Pteromys volans orii, Siberian ying squirrel, Siphonaptera I C R e patient was a 25-year-old male postgraduate Fleas (Siphonaptera) are small, bloodsucking or student living in Obihiro City, Hokkaido. He had been hematophagous ectoparasites that may transmit studying the ecology of wild Siberian ying squirrels in pathogens (Eisen and Gage, 2012). e cat ea, Obihiro City and had been capturing squirrels in the Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché), is the most common eld one to three times each week since 2019. Before cause of ea-related dermatitis in humans in he touched squirrels, he applied an insect repellent Japan (Ohtaki et al., 1999). Additionally, cases of (SARATECT Water Mist, Earth Corporation) to his humans bitten by bird eas such as Ceratophyllus skin to prevent eas from landing, but he was still (Ceratophyllus) gallinae dilates Dudolkina (Miyamoto, bitten by unidentied eas about once a month. 1993), C. (Ceratophyllus) garei Rothschild (Takahashi On June 16, 2020, the patient worked in the et al., 2000), and C. (Ceratophyllus) farreni chaoi laboratory with a handful of dead squirrels and nesting Smit and Allan (Yamauchi, 2005) have also been materials brought back from the eld. About an hour sporadically reported. However, information on later, he found a bloodsucking ea on his right wrist, human dermatitis caused by eas in wild mammals is so he collected the ea by attaching it to cellophane extremely scarce in Japan. tape. en, he photographed the ea with a digital Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) indages indages camera (Tough TG-5, OLYMPUS). Rothschild (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) is widely e dead squirrels were juveniles found soon distributed in the Palaearctic region, and in Japan it a er death in a nest box on the university campus in has been recorded in Hokkaido, Honshu and Shikoku Obihiro City. e capture method was conducted (Nakamura, 2016). Specimens of Ceratophyllus i. according to the guidelines of the Mammal Society indages were collected from the body surfaces and of Japan and approved by the Hokkaido Government nests of the Siberian chipmunk Tamias sibiricus Tokachi General Subprefectural Bureau (No. 608). (Laxmann), the Eurasian red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris e area that was bitten by the ea became swollen orientis omas, and the Siberian ying squirrel and itchy 2‒3 days a er the bite. e skin lesion Pteromys volans orii (Kuroda) in Hokkaido (Ono, from the ea bite was completely healed within three 1958, 1965; Sakaguti, 1962). is report describes months. He did not go to a hospital, and no medical human dermatitis that is caused by the bite of C. i. treatment for the ea bite was performed. indages from P. volans orii in Hokkaido, Japan. I e common and scientic names of host mammals follow Ohdachi et al. (2015). e ea (Fig. 1) was observed under a biological microscope (H550L, NIKON) while still attached to 34 Med. Entomol. Zool. vulgaris orientis, and P. volans orii in Hokkaido (Ono, 1958, 1965). Because hosts of C. i. indages are wild mammals, there is little opportunity for humans to come into contact with this ea via the host animals, and human bites by the ea are unlikely to occur. However, a large number of C. i. indages have been found in host nests that are also built near residential areas (Ono, 1965; Yamauchi et al., unpublished data), so attention should be paid to accidental ea bites through the nests. A We wish to express our gratitude to Associate Professor Glen Hill (Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine) for proofreading the English. is paper was partially supported by the Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases from Japan Agency for Medical Research and development (AMED). Fig. 1. Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) indages indages that was recovered from the patient. Fresh blood can be seen R throughout the digestive tract. Eisen, R. J. and Gage, K. L. 2012. Transmission of ea-borne zoonotic agents. Annu. Rev. Entomol., 57: 61‒82. Miyamoto, K. 1993. Cases of itchy eruption caused by the sparrow the cellophane tape. e ea was found to be male ea, Ceratophyllus gallinae dilatus (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) because it had the male genitalia. e morphology of in Hokkaido, Japan. Jpn. J. Sanit. Zool., 44: 97‒99. the ea, for example, the xed process of clasper, the Nakamura, T. 2016. Siphonaptera. In: Catalogue of the Insects movable nger, and the apical lobe of 9th sternum, of Japan, vol. 5, Neuropterida, Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, corresponds to those of C. i. indages as described by Trichoptera and Strepsiptera (ed. e Editorial Committee of Catalogue of the Insects of Japan), pp. 49‒61, Touka Shobo, Sakaguti (1962) from Hokkaido, Japan. Fukuoka (In Japanese). e examined ea in the present study is deposited Natsuaki, M. 2013. Dr. Natsuaki’s Clinical Photo Album̶Insects in the Laboratory of Entomology, Obihiro University of and Dermatitis: Dermatitis-Inducing Insects, Clinical Findings, Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Japan. and erapeutic Strategies. 199 pp. Gakken Medical Shujunsha, Tokyo (In Japanese). D Ohdachi, S. D., Ishibashi, Y., Iwasa, M. A., Fukui, D. and Saitoh, T. 2015. e Wild Mammals of Japan, Second edition. 506 pp., ere is a high probability that the patient had been Shoukadoh Book Sellers and e Mammal Society of Japan, bitten several times by C. i. indages during the course Kyoto (In Japanese). of his research of the Siberian ying squirrel, which Ohtaki, N., Shinonaga, S., Uchikawa, K. and Ohtaki, T. 1999. Flea would have established sensitization. erefore, it is and ea bite dermatitis. In: Arthropods and Dermatology (ed. presumed that the itching and swelling occurred 2 to Kano, R.), pp. 87‒97, Tokai University Press, Tokyo (in Japanese). 3 days a er the current bloodsucking (Natsuaki, 2013). Ono, Z. 1958. Studies on the eas from Sciuroidea in Hokkaido, Japan. Rep. Hokkaido Inst. Publ. Health, 9: 173‒183 (In Japanese To date, the patient had never been bitten by cat or with English title). canine eas such as C. felis. Ono, Z. 1965. Fleas from the nests of Pteromys volans orii e male of C. i. indages shown in Fig. 1 was (Sciuroidae: Rodentia) in Hokkaido (supplemental notes of collected from the patient’s skin during blood sucking. the studies on Japanese eas, part. 5). Rep. Hokkaido Inst. Publ. Fresh blood was observed in the ea’s digestive tract, Health, 15: 63‒67 (In Japanese with English summary). suggesting that the ea had ingested it from the patient. Sakaguti, K. 1962. A monograph of the Siphonaptera of Japan. 256 pp., 41 pls. e Nippon Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd., Osaka. To the best of our knowledge, human dermatitis that is Takahashi, M., Yajima, T. and Misumi, H. 2000. Cases of human caused by the bite of C. i. indages had not been reported dermatitis possibly caused by the bird ea, Ceratophyllus garei previously. erefore, the present paper is the rst Rothschild, 1902 (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) in Saitama report of human dermatitis by C. i. indages. Prefecture. Med. Entomol. Zool., 51: 39‒43. Ceratophyllus i. indages is widely distributed in the Yamauchi, T. 2005. Human dermatitis caused by the house-martin ea, Ceratophyllus farreni chaoi (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) Palaearctic region (Nakamura, 2016) and is common in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Med. Entomol. Zool., 56: 49‒52. on the body surfaces and nests of T. sibiricus, S. .
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