MALDI-TOF MS as a useful tool for rapid identification of flea vectors preserved in alcohol from field-collected samples.

An increasing number of papers have reported the importance of flea identification since they are considered an important vector of several human pathogens have emerged or re-emerged recently such as Bartonella henselae or Rickettsia felis. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been evaluated in the last years for the identification of multicellular organisms, including arthropods. The goal of the present work was to assess its performance for the identification of seven fleas species (Ctenocephalides felis, Ctenocephalides canis, Pulex irritans, Archaeopsylla erinacei, Leptopsylla taschenbergi, Stenoponia tripectinata and Nosopsyllus fasciatus) stored in ethanol from different periods of time collected in Corse, a French Mediterranean Island, South West of Spain, the Pyrenees area and east of Algeria, using MALDI-TOF MS. Our results confirm that MALDI-TOF MS can be used for identification of fleas