It’s a Good Year for Fleas, Bad for Humans and Fido

The house sat vacant for weeks, but that did not bother the fleas.

Although the household pet had moved on, the fleas patiently bided their time, reproducing themselves, hatching out of eggs and becoming increasingly ravenous while waiting for a warm-blooded animal to wander by to provide a long-awaited feast.

“You go in and all of a sudden you’ve got fleas all over your legs, covering you,” said Marge Duncan, a real estate associate with Century 21 Realty in Mission Viejo. “It can be pretty awful.”

For untold numbers of Orange County residents, the annual battle against the blood-sucking varmints has been particularly difficult this year, as a warm, damp September offered perfect conditions for fleas to go about the things they do best: eating, reproducing, and annoying people and pets. Though exact figures are hard to come by, several pest control companies report that their flea business is up noticeably.

“It’s been an extremely tough year for fleas,” said Brian Olson, general manager of The Bugman, a Fullerton pest control company. Tony Alcantar of Vint Pest Control in Santa Ana agreed. “They’ve kept us hopping,” he quipped.

According to Olson, The Bugman’s flea business is up 40% over this time last year, and he puts most of the blame on homeowners, whom he and other flea experts say often do not know the basics of flea combat.

Importance of Dipping

“A lot of homeowners aren’t aware that it’s important to have their pets dipped, in addition to treating their homes,” said Paul Lew, production coordinator for Mission Pest Control. Lew said his firm has not had a noticeable increase in flea business this year but added that about half the company’s 300 to 400 calls a day come from customers who have felt the stinging bite of a flea.

The pest professionals recommend that flea-afflicted pet owners and others thoroughly vacuum their homes, throwing away the vacuum cleaner bag once the place is clean. Bedding and anything else that the pet is associated with should be washed and machine-dried and the animal flea-dipped by a professional. Then the house needs a shroud of chemicals that stay in the carpet--a favorite flea hideaway--and kills the little pests as they hatch.

“The homeowner’s part is about 70% of controlling fleas,” Alcantar said. “Customers need to take the time to educate themselves.”

But while home and pet owners can improve the situation, many factors are out of their control. There is the weather, for example, which experts say could be a chief reason for this year’s flourishing flea population.

Humidity Factor

“We’ve has some pretty good humid weather in September, and that could be a factor,” said Rudy Geck, a vector ecologist with the Orange County Vector Control District, the agency that rides herd on pests. “Those climatic conditions contribute to the propagation of fleas.”

While cautioning that no hard figures exist to compare this year with previous ones, other flea experts agree that the weather has been good for the insects.

“When you have warm temperatures and the relative humidity is high, that’s when you get most fleas,” said Michael Rust, a UC Riverside entomologist who specializes in the study of fleas, cockroaches and other urban insects. Rust currently is studying fleas, remarkably resolute creatures that can go for months without eating and can jump enormous distances on their tiny legs.

Because fleas thrive and reproduce in warm, damp weather, winter usually brings a natural decline in their population. And although some pest control employees warn that indoor heating can provide the bugs with safe haven for the winter, Rust believes that relief is just around the corner for most residents.

“Generally, with the heating on, the air becomes drier,” he said. “While the temperature is sufficient, the lower humidity is deleterious to them.”

Role in Epidemics

Fleas, all 2,237 species of them, have pestered mankind for as long as anyone can remember. The bugs, which latch on to all manner of warm-blooded “hosts,” have been implicated in epidemics no less serious than the 14th-Century’s Great Plague, and occasional sporadic cases of bubonic plague surface even today. On a milder note, some people and pets are allergic to flea bites, and suffer swelling and irritation as a result.

But for the most part, experts agree that fleas are more of an annoyance than a genuine health hazard. County vector control, which targets disease-carrying pests for monitoring and eradication, all but ignores fleas, leaving them to private enterprise to control.

“It really is just the nuisance factor,” Geck said. “They’re pretty exasperating.”

FACTS ABOUT FLEAS

Fleas are small, wingless insects that live on humans, dogs, cats, rats, birds, horses, poultry, rabbits and many wild animals.

They suck blood for food, using their beaks to puncture skin. They usually feed once a day. They can, however, survive for several weeks or even months without food.

Fleas have flat sides and a head much smaller than the rest of their bodies. Strong legs help them move quickly through the hairs (or feathers) of their host. And they have great leaping prowess.

When a flea bites, it injects a salivary secretion into the wound. It is this, experts suspect, that causes itching.

Human reactions to flea bites can vary greatly--some people seem to never be bitten while others may be allergic to them. To the latter, a single bite can cause great swelling and inflammation.

Fleas carry such diseases as plague and murine typhus.

The best protection against fleas is cleanliness (fleas can live for a short time in dust and debris) and proper care of pets. Pets that have fleas should be treated with a commercial flea powder or spray that contains either rotenone or pyrethrum, both of which should kill the fleas.

Sources: Collier’s Encyclopedia and the World Book Encyclopedia Compiled by Kathie Bozanich