Nyirenda SS, Hang’ombe BM, Kilonzo B, 2016. Factors that precipitated human plague in Zambia from 1914 to 2014: an overview for a century (100 years). J. Zoonotic Dis. 1: 1–14.
Davis DH, Fisher BW, Goldring F, 1960. The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa. Bull World Health Organ 23: 405–408.
Low RB, Newman SG, 1920. The Progress and Diffusion of Plague, Cholera and Yellow Fever Throughout the World, 1914–1917. London, United Kingdom: His Majesty Stationery Office.
Nyirenda SS, Hang’ombe BM, Kilonzo BS, Kabeta MN, Mundia C, Sinkala Y, 2017. Molecular, serological and epidemiological observations after a suspected outbreak of plague in Nyimba, eastern Zambia. Trop Doct 47: 38–43.
Worsfold JT, 1955. An outbreak of plague at Chitokoloki, Balovale. Cent Afr J Med 1: 116–117.
Kilonzo BS, Mvena ZSK, Machangu RS, Mbise TJ, 1997. Preliminary observations on factors responsible for long persistence and continued outbreaks of plague in Lushoto district, Tanzania. Acta Trop 68: 215–227.
Eisen RJ, MacMillan K, Atiku LA, Mpanga JT, Zielinski-Gutierrez E, Graham CB, Boegler KA, Enscore RE, Gage KL, 2014. Identification of risk factors for plague in the West Nile Region of Uganda. Am J Trop Med Hyg 90: 1047–1058.
Kilonzo BS, Mhina J, Sabuni C, Mgode G, 2005. The role of rodents and small carnivores in plague endemicity in Tanzania. Belgium J Zool 135: 119–125.
Ngulube TJ, Mwanza K, Njobvu CA, Muula AS, 2006. Knowledge, attitudes and public health response towards plague in Petauke, Zambia. Trop Doct 36: 223–225.
Ogen-Odoi AA, 1993. A Report on Plague Outbreaks in Nebbi District, Uganda. An official document submitted by the Ministry of Health, Enttebe to the WHO Representative (Uganda) regarding an outbreak of plague in the country in early. Enttebe, Uganda: Uganda Ministry of Health.
Eisen RJ et al., 2008. Early-phase transmission of Yersinia pestis by cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) and their potential role as vectors in a plague-endemic region of Uganda. Am J Trop Med Hyg 78: 949–956.
Ratovonjato J, Rajerison M, Rahelinirina R, Boyer S, 2014. Yersinia pestis in Pulex irritans fleas during plague outbreak, Madagascar. Emerg Infect Dis 20: 1414–1415.
Bin Saeed A, Al-Hamdan N, Fontaine RE, 2005. Plague from eating raw camel liver. Emerg Infect Dis 11: 1456–1457.
Christie B, Chen TH, Elberg SS, 1980. Plague in camels and goats: their role in human epidemics. J Infect Dis 141: 724–726.
Wong D et al., 2009. Primary pneumonic plague contracted from a mountain lion carcass. Clin Infect Dis 49: e33–e38.
Will S, 2016. Fears of a mass bubonic plague outbreak in Russia: Thousands given emergency vaccinations after boy contracts the disease. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3689697/Fears-mass-BUBONIC-PLAGUE-outbreak-Russia.html. Accessed July 7, 2017.
Neerinckx S, Bertherat E, Leirs H, 2010. Human plague occurrences in Africa: an overview from 1877 to 2008. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 104: 97–103.
Davis DH, Fisher BW, Goldring F, 1960. The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa. Bull World Health Organ 23: 405–408.
Kenya, 1978. Communicable Disease Centre, Ministry of Health. Plague in Kenya. Heal Inf Bull 2: 1–2.
Wang H et al., 2011. A dog-associated primary pneumonic plague in Qinghai Province, China. Clin Infect Dis 52: 185–190.
Hang’ombe BM, Nakamura I, Samui KL, Kaile D, Mweene AS, Kilonzo BS, Sawa H, Sugimoto C, Wren BW, 2012. Evidence of Yersinia pestis DNA from fleas in an endemic plague area of Zambia. BMC Res Notes 5: 72.
Kilonzo B, 1976. A survey of rodents and their flea ectoparasites in north-eastern Tanzania. E African J Med Res 3: 117–126.
Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 382 | 252 | 13 |
Full Text Views | 401 | 6 | 0 |
PDF Downloads | 137 | 8 | 0 |
Plague is a fatal, primarily rodent-flea-borne zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis. The identification of risk factors of plague was investigated through questionnaire interview and conducting focus group discussion (FGD) in Sinda and Nyimba districts of eastern Zambia. A total of 104 questionnaires were administered to individual respondents and 20 groups consisting of 181 discussants, which comprised FGD team in this study. The study revealed that trapping, transportation, and preparation of rodents for food exposed the community to rodent and their fleas suggesting that plague may have occurred primarily by either flea bites or contact with infected wild rodents. The study also revealed that most people in communities consumed rodents as part of their regular diet; therefore, contact with small wild mammals was a common practice. The mode of transportation of freshly trapped rodents, in particular, carcasses risked human to flea bites. Questionnaire respondents (75%) and FGD discussants (55%) indicated that trappers preferred to carry rodent carcasses in small bags, whereas 55.8% and 20% respectively, reported hunters carrying carcasses in their pockets. Carrying of carcass skewers on trappers’ shoulders was reported by 38.4% and 20% of individual respondents and FGD, respectively. All these activities were exposing humans to rodents and their fleas, the natural reservoirs and vectors of plague, respectively. This study also showed that there is a statistically significant (χ2 = 4.6878, P < 0.05), between digging of rodents from their burrows and the presence of fleas on the hunter’s bodies or clothes, which exposes humans to potentially flea bites in an enzootic cycle.
Financial support: This work was supported by a PhD grant from the Intra-ACP Academic mobility scheme Africa (Mwalimu Nyerere) and the “Caribbean and Pacific under the commission of the European Union” and the project “Enhancing community of practice in one Health for Infectious diseases through post-graduate training” grant no. 2012-3166/001, through the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania.
Authors’ addresses: Stanley S. Nyirenda, Central Veterinary Research Institute, Pathology and Epidemiology, Lusaka, Zambia, and Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, E-mail: stanleynyirenda@yahoo.co.uk. Bernard M. Hang’ombe, School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia, E-mail: mudenda68@yahoo.com. Robert Machang’u, Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, E-mail: rmachangu2013@yahoo.co.uk. Bukheti S. Kilonzo, Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, E-mail: bskilonzo@yahoo.com. Jackson Mwanza, Central Veterinary Research Institute, Biochemistry and Toxicology, Lusaka, Zambia, E-mail: jackmwanza75@gmail.com.
Nyirenda SS, Hang’ombe BM, Kilonzo B, 2016. Factors that precipitated human plague in Zambia from 1914 to 2014: an overview for a century (100 years). J. Zoonotic Dis. 1: 1–14.
Davis DH, Fisher BW, Goldring F, 1960. The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa. Bull World Health Organ 23: 405–408.
Low RB, Newman SG, 1920. The Progress and Diffusion of Plague, Cholera and Yellow Fever Throughout the World, 1914–1917. London, United Kingdom: His Majesty Stationery Office.
Nyirenda SS, Hang’ombe BM, Kilonzo BS, Kabeta MN, Mundia C, Sinkala Y, 2017. Molecular, serological and epidemiological observations after a suspected outbreak of plague in Nyimba, eastern Zambia. Trop Doct 47: 38–43.
Worsfold JT, 1955. An outbreak of plague at Chitokoloki, Balovale. Cent Afr J Med 1: 116–117.
Kilonzo BS, Mvena ZSK, Machangu RS, Mbise TJ, 1997. Preliminary observations on factors responsible for long persistence and continued outbreaks of plague in Lushoto district, Tanzania. Acta Trop 68: 215–227.
Eisen RJ, MacMillan K, Atiku LA, Mpanga JT, Zielinski-Gutierrez E, Graham CB, Boegler KA, Enscore RE, Gage KL, 2014. Identification of risk factors for plague in the West Nile Region of Uganda. Am J Trop Med Hyg 90: 1047–1058.
Kilonzo BS, Mhina J, Sabuni C, Mgode G, 2005. The role of rodents and small carnivores in plague endemicity in Tanzania. Belgium J Zool 135: 119–125.
Ngulube TJ, Mwanza K, Njobvu CA, Muula AS, 2006. Knowledge, attitudes and public health response towards plague in Petauke, Zambia. Trop Doct 36: 223–225.
Ogen-Odoi AA, 1993. A Report on Plague Outbreaks in Nebbi District, Uganda. An official document submitted by the Ministry of Health, Enttebe to the WHO Representative (Uganda) regarding an outbreak of plague in the country in early. Enttebe, Uganda: Uganda Ministry of Health.
Eisen RJ et al., 2008. Early-phase transmission of Yersinia pestis by cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) and their potential role as vectors in a plague-endemic region of Uganda. Am J Trop Med Hyg 78: 949–956.
Ratovonjato J, Rajerison M, Rahelinirina R, Boyer S, 2014. Yersinia pestis in Pulex irritans fleas during plague outbreak, Madagascar. Emerg Infect Dis 20: 1414–1415.
Bin Saeed A, Al-Hamdan N, Fontaine RE, 2005. Plague from eating raw camel liver. Emerg Infect Dis 11: 1456–1457.
Christie B, Chen TH, Elberg SS, 1980. Plague in camels and goats: their role in human epidemics. J Infect Dis 141: 724–726.
Wong D et al., 2009. Primary pneumonic plague contracted from a mountain lion carcass. Clin Infect Dis 49: e33–e38.
Will S, 2016. Fears of a mass bubonic plague outbreak in Russia: Thousands given emergency vaccinations after boy contracts the disease. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3689697/Fears-mass-BUBONIC-PLAGUE-outbreak-Russia.html. Accessed July 7, 2017.
Neerinckx S, Bertherat E, Leirs H, 2010. Human plague occurrences in Africa: an overview from 1877 to 2008. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 104: 97–103.
Davis DH, Fisher BW, Goldring F, 1960. The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa. Bull World Health Organ 23: 405–408.
Kenya, 1978. Communicable Disease Centre, Ministry of Health. Plague in Kenya. Heal Inf Bull 2: 1–2.
Wang H et al., 2011. A dog-associated primary pneumonic plague in Qinghai Province, China. Clin Infect Dis 52: 185–190.
Hang’ombe BM, Nakamura I, Samui KL, Kaile D, Mweene AS, Kilonzo BS, Sawa H, Sugimoto C, Wren BW, 2012. Evidence of Yersinia pestis DNA from fleas in an endemic plague area of Zambia. BMC Res Notes 5: 72.
Kilonzo B, 1976. A survey of rodents and their flea ectoparasites in north-eastern Tanzania. E African J Med Res 3: 117–126.
Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 382 | 252 | 13 |
Full Text Views | 401 | 6 | 0 |
PDF Downloads | 137 | 8 | 0 |