The Israeli sand rat, a small hairy rodent, is helping researchers at Deakin University to understand obesity in humans.
From the newscientist.com
He said this may be due to a movement in either the burrowing wood rat or the sand flies that transmit the infection to humans, although the reason for this movement is unclear.
From the sciencedaily.com
In North Texas, doctors suspect that the process leading to human infection begins when a sand fly bites a rodent called the burrowing wood rat, which carries the parasite.