Editing Flea (section)

== Relationship with humans ==
===In literature and art===
Fleas have appeared in poetry, literature, music and art; these include [[Robert Hooke]]'s drawing of a flea under the [[microscope]] in his pioneering book ''[[Micrographia]]'' published in 1665,<ref>{{cite book |last=Neri |first=Janice |editor1-last=O'Malley |editor1-first=Therese |editor2-last=Meyers |editor2-first=Amy R. W. |title=The Art of Natural History |publisher=National Gallery of Art |date=2008 |pages=83–107 |chapter=Between Observation and Image: Representations of Insects in Robert Hooke's Micrographia |isbn=978-0-300-16024-6}}</ref> poems by Donne and [[Jonathan Swift]], works of music by [[Giorgio Federico Ghedini]] and [[Modest Mussorgsky]], a play by [[Georges Feydeau]], a film by [[Charlie Chaplin]], and paintings by artists such as [[Giuseppe Crespi]], [[Giovanni Battista Piazzetta]], and [[Georges de La Tour]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roncalli |first1=Amici R.|title=La storia della pulce nell'arte e nella letteratura |journal=Parasitologia |date=June 2004 |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=15–18 |pmid=15305680 |trans-title=The history of the flea in art and literature|language=it}} See also the [https://web.archive.org/web/20161105032455/http://www.soipa.it/index.php/it/informazioni-joomla/index.php?view=article&catid=47%3Apubblicazioni&id=57%3Ala-storia-della-pulce-nellarte-e-nella-letteratura&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=65&lang=it 2009 version].</ref>

John Donne's erotic metaphysical poem "[[The Flea (poem)|The Flea]]", published in 1633 after his death, uses the [[conceit]] of a flea, which has sucked blood from the male speaker and his female lover, as an extended [[metaphor]] for their sexual relationship. The speaker tries to convince a lady to sleep with him, arguing that if the mingling of their blood in the flea is innocent, then sex would be also.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Black, Joseph |title=The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 2 |date=2010 |edition=2nd |publisher=Broadview Press |isbn=978-1-55481-290-5}}</ref>

The comic poem [[Siphonaptera (poem)|''Siphonaptera'']] was written in 1915 by the mathematician [[Augustus De Morgan]], It describes an infinite chain of parasitism made of ever larger and ever smaller fleas.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26408/26408-h/26408-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II (of II), by Augustus de Morgan|website=gutenberg.org|access-date=2019-10-30}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="155px">
File:HookeFlea01.jpg|[[Robert Hooke]]'s drawing of a flea in ''[[Micrographia]]'', 1665
File:The development of the flea from egg to adult Wellcome M0016633.jpg|Development of the flea from egg to adult. [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]], c. 1680
</gallery>

===Flea circuses===
{{Main|Flea circus}}

[[Flea circus]]es provided entertainment to nineteenth century audiences. These circuses, extremely popular in Europe from 1830 onwards, featured fleas dressed as humans or towing miniature carts, [[chariot]]s, [[Roller (agricultural tool)|rollers]] or [[cannon]]. These devices were originally made by [[watchmaker]]s or [[jeweller]]s to show off their skill at miniaturization. A ringmaster called a "professor" accompanied their performance with a rapid circus patter.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The flea in cultural history and first effects of its control |journal=Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift |date=1 April 2000 |issn=0005-9366 |pmid=10816916 |pages=152–160 |volume=113 |issue=4 |first=R. |last=Schmäschke}}</ref><ref name="BBC">{{cite web |title=The rise and demise of the flea circus |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2LF04Y9n5hJTHK1l6ffLhPc/the-rise-and-demise-of-the-flea-circus |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |work=Natural Histories |access-date=2 November 2016}}</ref>

[[File:The Go-As-You-Please Race, as seen through a Magnifying Glass.jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.5<!--width for very detailed image-->|A [[flea circus]]: "The Go-As-You-Please Race, as seen through a Magnifying Glass", engraved by J. G. Francis, from an article by [[C. F. Holder]] in ''[[St. Nicholas Magazine]]'', 1886]]

===Carriers of plague===
[[File:Great plague of london-1665.jpg|thumb|upright|[[The Great Plague of London]], in 1665, killed up to 100,000 people.]]

[[Oriental rat flea]]s, ''Xenopsylla cheopis'', can carry the [[coccobacillus]] ''[[Yersinia pestis]].'' The infected fleas feed on rodent vectors of this bacterium, such as the [[black rat]], ''Rattus rattus'', and then infect human populations with the [[Plague (disease)|plague]], as has happened repeatedly from ancient times, as in the [[Plague of Justinian]] in 541–542.<ref>{{cite book |author=Rosen, William |date=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/justiniansfleapl00rose/page/3 |title=Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe |publisher=Viking Adult |page=[https://archive.org/details/justiniansfleapl00rose/page/3 3] |isbn=978-0-670-03855-8 |url-access=registration }}</ref>  Outbreaks killed up to 200 million people across Europe between 1346 and 1671.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hays |first=J. N. |title=The Burdens of Disease: Epidemics and Human Response in Western History |url=https://archive.org/details/burdensofdisease0000hays |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-2528-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/burdensofdisease0000hays/page/58 58] and following}}</ref> The [[Black Death]] pandemic between 1346 and 1353 likely killed over a third of the population of Europe.<ref>{{cite book | last=Austin Alchon | first=Suzanne | title=A pest in the land: new world epidemics in a global perspective | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiHHnV08ebkC&pg=PA21 | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | year=2003 | page=21 | isbn=978-0-8263-2871-7 }}</ref>

Because fleas carry plague, they have seen service as a [[biological weapon]]. During [[World War II]], the [[Kaimingjie germ weapon attack|Japanese army dropped fleas]] infested with ''Y. pestis'' in China. The [[Bubonic plague|bubonic]] and [[Septicemic plague|septicaemic plagues]] are the most probable form of the plague that would spread as a result of a [[bioterrorism]] attack that used fleas as a vector.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bossi |first=P. |display-authors=etal |date=2004 |title=Bichat guidelines for the clinical management of plague and bioterrorism-related plague |journal=Eurosurveillance |volume=9 |issue=12 |page=Article 12 |url=http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=501}}</ref>

===The Rothschild Collection===
The banker [[Charles Rothschild]] devoted much of his time to [[entomology]], creating a large collection of fleas now in the Rothschild Collection at the [[Natural History Museum, London]]. He discovered and named the [[pandemic|plague]] [[Vector (epidemiology)|vector]] flea, ''[[Xenopsylla cheopis]]'', also known as the oriental rat flea, in 1903.<ref name="TWT">{{cite web |title=Charles Rothschild |url=http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/who-we-are/history/centenary/charles-rothschild |publisher=[[The Wildlife Trusts]] |access-date=1 November 2016}}</ref> Using what was probably the world's most complete collection of fleas of about 260,000 specimens (representing some 73% of the 2,587 species and subspecies so far described), he described around 500 species and subspecies of Siphonaptera. He was followed in this interest by his daughter [[Miriam Rothschild]], who helped to catalogue his enormous collection of the insects in seven volumes.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Walter |title=Miriam Rothschild Talks of Fleas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/10/science/miriam-rothschild-talks-of-fleas.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=1 November 2016 |date=10 April 1984}}</ref><ref name="NHM">{{cite web |title=Siphonaptera collections |url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/collections/entomology-collections/siphonaptera-collections.html |publisher=[[Natural History Museum, London]] |access-date=1 November 2016}}</ref>

=== Flea treatments ===
{{Main|Flea treatments}}

Fleas have a significant economic impact. In America alone, approximately $2.8 billion is spent annually on flea-related veterinary bills and another $1.6 billion annually for flea treatment with pet groomers. Four billion dollars is spent annually for prescription flea treatment and $348 million for flea pest control.<ref name=Hinkle>{{Cite book |publisher=Springer Netherlands |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4020-6242-1 |pages=797–801 |first1=Nancy C. |last1=Hinkle |first2=Philip G. |last2=Koehler |title=Encyclopedia of Entomology |chapter=Cat Flea, Ctenocephalides felis felis Bouché (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae) |editor=Capinera, John L.|doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-6359-6_536 }}</ref>