Prairie Dog Pals

Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat

3 People Have Caught Plague in New Mexico This Month

by

Three people in New Mexico have been infected with plague this month, which is close to the number of plague cases that the state saw in all of 2016, according to health officials.

This week, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) reported two cases of plague — one in a 52-year-old woman and one in a 62-year-old woman, both living in Santa Fe County, in the northern part of the state. Earlier in June, the state reported a case of plague in a 63-year-old man, also living in Santa Fe County. All three people were hospitalized, but all of them survived, NMDOH officials said.

Read more:  Plague

 

 

Fleas that bite rodents infected with the bacteria that cause the plague can transmit the disease to people.

Credit: Janice Haney Carr/CDC

 

Expansion of prairie dog vaccine proposed

by

Use of an oral vaccine that protects prairie dogs from the plague will be expanded on the Charles M. Russell and UL Bend National Wildlife Refuges in Montana under a plan proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The new plan would allow for vaccine distribution on wilderness areas within the refuges and on nearby private lands when requested by landowners. The Service has completed an environmental assessment for the action and is seeking public comment on the proposal.

Read more:  Vaccine

Swabbing Prairie Dog Burrows for Fleas That Transmit Yersinia pestis: Influences on Efficiency.

by

This message contains search results from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Do not reply directly to this message

Sent on: Sun May 14 05:04:19 2017

1 selected item: 28486652

PubMed Results

Item 1 of 1    (Display the citation in PubMed)

1. J Med Entomol. 2017 May 9. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjx090. [Epub ahead of print]

Eads DA1.

Author information:

1Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 (daeads@colostate.edu).

Abstract

Scientists and health-care professionals sometimes use a swabbing technique to collect fleas from rodent burrows, and later test the fleas for Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Detection of Y. pestis is enhanced when large pools of fleas are available. The following study investigated factors that might affect the rate at which fleas are collected from burrows in colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus). Data were collected from 13 colonies in New Mexico during 0600-1000 hours, June-August 2010-2011. Fleas were scarce on swabs inserted into burrows that were not actively used by prairie dogs; fleas are presumably suppressed in burrows that are void of hosts and might have begun to collapse due to a lack of maintenance. Fleas were scarce on swabs inserted into burrows with little sunlight entering the tunnel; many species of fleas use changes in light intensity to locate objects, but if light is limited, it might be difficult to locate a swab. Fleas were scarce on swabs inserted to shallow depths underground, especially during hot mornings, and during the hottest portions of mornings; when conditions are hot above ground, ectothermic fleas might migrate into the deep components of burrows, or become less willing to jump onto hosts, making it difficult to collect the fleas with swabs. If the swabbing technique is used to survey for Y. pestis on colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs, investigators might use the results of this study to modify their methods and increase the number of fleas collected.

© The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PMID: 28486652
Icon for Silverchair Information Systems

Responses of Juvenile Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) to a Commercially Produced Oral Plague Vaccine Delivered at Two Doses.

by

This message contains search results from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Do not reply directly to this message

Sent on: Sun May 7 04:19:27 2017

1 selected item: 28463626

PubMed Results

Item 1 of 1    (Display the citation in PubMed)

1. J Wildl Dis. 2017 May 2. doi: 10.7589/2017-02-033. [Epub ahead of print]

Responses of Juvenile Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) to a Commercially Produced Oral Plague Vaccine Delivered at Two Doses.

Cárdenas-Canales EM1, Wolfe LL1, Tripp DW1, Rocke TE2, Abbott RC2, Miller MW1.

Author information:

11 Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife, Wildlife Health Program, Foothills Wildlife Research Facility, 4330 Laporte Ave., Fort Collins, Colorado 80521-2153, USA.22 United States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006 Schroeder Road, Madison, Wisconsin 53711, USA.

Abstract

We confirmed safety and immunogenicity of mass-produced vaccine baits carrying an experimental, commercial-source plague vaccine (RCN-F1/V307) expressing Yersinia pestis V and F1 antigens. Forty-five juvenile black-tailed prairie dogs ( Cynomys ludovicianus ) were randomly divided into three treatment groups (n=15 animals/group). Animals in the first group received one standard-dose vaccine bait (5×107 plaque-forming units [pfu]; STD). The second group received a lower-dose bait (1×107 pfu; LOW). In the third group, five animals received two standard-dose baits and 10 were left untreated but in contact. Two vaccine-treated and one untreated prairie dogs died during the study, but laboratory analyses ruled out vaccine involvement. Overall, 17 of 33 (52%; 95% confidence interval for binomial proportion [bCI] 34-69%) prairie dogs receiving vaccine-laden bait showed a positive anti-V antibody response on at least one sampling occasion after bait consumption, and eight (24%; bCI 11-42%) showed sustained antibody responses. The STD and LOW groups did not differ (P≥0.78) in their proportions of overall or sustained antibody responses after vaccine bait consumption. Serum from one of the nine (11%; bCI 0.3-48%) surviving untreated, in-contact prairie dogs also had detectable antibody on one sampling occasion. We did not observe any adverse effects related to oral vaccination.
PMID: 28463626