Morphological and molecular identification of human flea(Pulex irritans) by the genetic position of ITS1 in north of Iran

Background: The painful bite of Pulex irritans flea causes inflammation and wound on the host body. The existence of three factors, namely a vast distribution area, different hosts and digestive system with specific mechanism for digesting blood has lead to this insect and the other species of fleas who nourish from mammals be introduced as the potential carrier of diseases like plague and endemic typhus in different parts of the world. With considering the role of this specie in transferring diseases in Iran, study has been conducted for morphological and molecular identification of this specie.Materials and Methods: After sampling the flea from different hosts and transferring them to laboratory, the identification of their morphology was conducted by using different morphological characters. After the morphological identification, the genetic position of ITS1 was used for molecular identification.Results: The result from the morphological research indicated that from the 1053 flea samples which were collected from 162 different hosts, 74 belonged to human flea. In molecular identification, there was a continuum of 100 nucleotides from ITS1 gene for the first time in the world and it was recorded in the genetic bank.

Keywords:

P.irritans , ITS1 , Gen bank.