Plague positive mouse fleas on mice prior to plague outbreaks in black-tailed and white-tailed prairie dogs

In 2013, a large blinded, paired placebo-controlled field trial for the prairie dog oral sylvatic plague vaccine started in the Western US. On 17 paired plots, vaccine and placebo plots, small rodents were trapped annually for 3-5 consecutive nights (when weather allowed) and high elevation Utah plots where plague was active were more frequently trapped in 2014 and 2015. In the dataset the prevalence of flea infestation was recorded for the first annual summer sampling, it was summarized for all small rodent species caught and deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Infestations were either for all flea species collected or for Aetheca wagneri only (our most abundant flea species). We used this data to assess if plague (Y. pestis) presence increased the prevalence of flea infestations on small rodents and deer mice. Fleas were collected after animals were anesthetized with isoflurane.