Lack of transovarial transmission of Bartonella by rodent fleas

In this issue of Molecular Ecology , Morick et al. (2011) present an interesting study of acquisition and transmission of Bartonella by Xenopsylla ramesis fleas ( Fig. 1) which infest naturally wild desert rodents from the Negev desert. A major issue with vector‐borne diseases and vector‐borne infection is to know whether the vector can also be a natural reservoir and transmit the infectious agent transovarially, allowing the infection to be perpetuated through successive generations of vectors. The desert flea, X. ramesis , is a flea species parasitizing gerbilline rodents in the deserts of the Middle East (Fielden et al. 2004). 1 The desert flea, Xenopsylla ramesis. Photograph credit: Michael Hastriter (Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA).