• Support PDP
  • About Us
  • Wild Prairie Dogs
  • City Prairie Dogs
  • Volunteer
  • Shop
  • History
  • PDP Documentation
  • Contact PDP

Prairie Dog Pals

Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat

Reevaluation of the Role of Blocked Oropsylla hirsuta Prairie Dog Fleas (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) in Yersinia pestis (Enterobacterales: Enterobacteriaceae) Transmission.

April 10, 2022 by PDP

Miarinjara A(1)(2), Eads DA(3), Bland DM(1), Matchett MR(4), Biggins DE(3), Hinnebusch BJ(1). Author information: (1)Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Hamilton, MT, USA. (2)Department of Environmental Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. (3)U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO, USA. (4)U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lewistown, MT, USA. Prairie dogs in the western United States experience periodic epizootics of plague, caused by the flea-borne bacterial pathogen Yersinia pestis. An early study indicated that Oropsylla hirsuta (Baker), often the most abundant prairie dog flea vector of plague, seldom transmits Y. pestis by the classic blocked flea mechanism. More recently, an alternative early-phase mode of transmission has been proposed as the driving force behind prairie dog epizootics. In this study, using the same flea infection protocol used previously to evaluate early-phase transmission, we assessed the vector competence of O. hirsuta for both modes of transmission. Proventricular blockage was evident during the first two weeks after infection and transmission during this time was at least as efficient as early-phase transmission 2 d after infection. Thus, both modes of transmission likely contribute to plague epizootics in prairie dogs. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2022. DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjac021 PMID: 35380675

Information about Prairie Dogs Tagged: plague

A novel mechanism of streptomycin resistance in Yersinia pestis: Mutation in the rpsL gene

August 4, 2021 by PDP

Abstract

Streptomycin is considered to be one of the effective antibiotics for the treatment of plague. In order to investigate the streptomycin resistance of Y. pestis in China, we evaluated strep- tomycin susceptibility of 536 Y. pestis strains in China in vitro using the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and screened streptomycin resistance-associated genes (strA and strB) by PCR method. A clinical Y. pestis isolate (S19960127) exhibited high-level resis- tance to streptomycin (the MIC was 4,096 mg/L). The strain (biovar antiqua) was isolated from a pneumonic plague outbreak in 1996 in Tibet Autonomous Region, China, belonging to the Marmota himalayana Qinghai–Tibet Plateau plague focus. In contrast to previously reported streptomycin resistance mediated by conjugative plasmids, the genome sequenc- ing and allelic replacement experiments demonstrated that an rpsL gene (ribosomal protein S12) mutation with substitution of amino-acid 43 (K43R) was responsible for the high-level resistance to streptomycin in strain S19960127, which is consistent with the mutation reported in some streptomycin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. Streptomycin is used as the first-line treatment against plague in many countries. The emergence of strep- tomycin resistance in Y. pestis represents a critical public health problem. So streptomycin susceptibility monitoring of Y. pestis isolates should not only include plasmid-mediated resistance but also include the ribosomal protein S12 gene (rpsL) mutation, especially when treatment failure is suspected due to antibiotic resistance.

Read More:  Novel

News Tagged: plague

Two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs

April 19, 2021 by PDP

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020; 9(1): 1878–1880.
Published online 2020 Aug 21. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1807412
PMCID: PMC7473306
PMID: 32762515
Jan Kehrmann,a Walter Popp,b,c Battumur Delgermaa,d Damdin Otgonbayar,d Tsagaan Gantumur,e Jan Buer,a and Nyamdorj Tsogbadrakhd

ABSTRACT

Marmots are an important reservoir of Yersinia pestis and a source of human plague in Mongolia. We present two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs and discuss the distribution of natural foci of Y. pestis in Mongolia.

Letter

Plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, is one of the most dreaded diseases in the world and has killed millions of people over the centuries [1]. Y. pestis has acquired virulence factors that make it a unique member of the family of Yersiniaceae, transmitted as a predominantly vector-borne pathogen. Plague is an endemic disease in many parts of the world. Wild rodents are an important reservoir of Y. pestis and its maintenance relies on flea vectors and climate [2]. Climate conditions affect all three components of the plague cycle: bacteria, vectors and animal hosts. Marmots are the main reservoir of Y. pestis in Mongolia and are an important source of human infection [3,4]. Y. pestis is commonly transmitted by fleabites. However, plague after the consumption of raw meat has rarely been reported [5-7]. Here, we present two fatal cases of plague caused by eating raw marmot organs, and we discuss the epidemiology of Y. pestis infection of small rodents in Mongolia.

A 38-year old Mongolian resident of Kazakh ethnicity from Bayan Ulgii aimag (province) in western Mongolia worked as a border guard. He called the emergency medical service from his home, reporting fever, abdominal pain, and bloody vomitus. Soon after his call, he died (28 April 2019). He had hunted and prepared marmots on 22 and 25 April and had been vaccinated with an EV76 Y. pestis vaccine one year previously. He and his 37-year old wife had consumed meat and raw marmot organs (kidney, stomach and gallbladder) on 22, 23, and 25 April. His wife visited a physician daily from 26 to 28 April because of fever, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and headache. She reported celebrating with friends between 22 and 25 April but concealed her contact with and consumption of raw marmot meat. Retrospective interviews with neighbours and older children revealed that the man and his wife were the only persons in the group of friends who had consumed raw marmot meat. The wife refused in-hospital diagnostic tests and was treated as outpatient with erythromycin and anti-inflammatory drugs. After the husband died at home, a tentative diagnosis of plague was made for the wife, and she was treated in the hospital with intravenous gentamicin and ceftriaxone. However, she died on 1 May. The couple left behind four children aged between nine months and twelve years.

Autopsy of the husband on 29 April found no fleabites or enlarged lymph nodes. His inner organs (stomach, oesophagus, liver, kidneys, and lungs) were enlarged and blood-filled and showed signs of inflammation. Y. pestis was cultured on Hottinger blood agar and detected by PCR with Pla1 (5’GAATGAAAATCTCTGAGG3’) and Pla2 (5’TCCAGCGTTAATTACGG3’) and pFRA1 (5’TCAGTTCCGTTATCGCC3’) and pFRA2 (5’GTTAGATACGGTTACGGT3’) primers from blood, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, brain and bone marrow. The identification was confirmed by phage lysis according to the Mongolian national guidelines. The wife presented with pharyngeal inflammation and swollen cervical lymph nodes. Y. pestis was detected by PCR and by culture of samples from an enlarged cervical lymph node. Y. pestis was also detected in swab specimens from the inflamed throat, blood, and gut.

Although both cases involved zoonotic and not interhuman infections, the detection of Y. pestis in the lungs during autopsy prompted the authorities to follow infection prevalence measures. Because it was possible that both patients had contracted secondary pneumonic plague, the authorities followed the Mongolian national plague guidelines for pneumonic plague. All 124 persons who had come into close contact with the couple between 22 and 28 April were treated prophylactically with doxycycline or ciprofloxacin. Ulgii city (34,000 residents) was quarantined from 1 to 6 May. F1-antigen tests were performed on throat swab specimens of 198 close contact persons, family members, friends, colleagues, and medical staff at least six days after the last contact, and all results were negative.

Annual surveys of the prevalence of Y. pestis in Mongolia from 2012 to 2019 found that 137 soums (districts) of 13 aimags have natural plague foci, with a high infection prevalence for Bayan Ulgii in the western part of the country (Figure 1(A)). The infection prevalence of marmots and their associated fleas in Bayan Ulgii aimag was 20.2% in 2018 and 16.8% in 2019. It was determined from testing 287 small rodents and 261 fleas in 2018 and 397 small rodents and 312 fleas in 2019 in this area by serologic tests and PCR: in case of positivity, bacteriologic culture was performed additionally.

Figure 1.

A. Geographic distribution of natural foci of plague in Mongolia as assessed from 2012 to 2019. Categorization of prevalence took into account the extent and continuity of Y. pestis infection of small rodents in various regions of Mongolia over the past eight years. For each aimag (province), a minimum of 80–100 small rodents and fleas associated with the rodents in an area 100–120 kilometres square were examined annually with serologic tests (F1-antigen and plague specific antibody test) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Positive samples were subjected to bacteriologic culture. B. Picture of Marmota sibirica. C and D. Preparation of traditional marmot boodog: Burning furs with flame (C) and cooked marmot boodog (D).

Of the 73 reported cases of plague in Mongolia since 1998, 59% have been associated with close contact with infected marmots and 7% with eating raw marmot organs (data provided by National Centre for Zoonotic Diseases, Ministry of Health, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia).

The rapid clinical course of the disease and the absence of signs of lymphadenitis with the detection of Y. pestis in the blood indicate that the husband died of septicaemic plague caused by the consumption of raw marmot infected with Y. pestis. Y. pestis infection occurred even though the man had received an EV76 vaccine one year previously. There is no evidence showing that the available Y. pestis vaccines provide humans with long-lasting immunity and protection from plague [8,9].

The combination of pharyngeal inflammation, swollen cervical lymph nodes, detection of the pathogen in cervical lymph node tissue and pharyngeal swab specimens, and the absence of fleabites indicate that the wife was also infected by consuming raw marmot meat. Pharyngeal inflammation and swollen cervical lymph nodes have previously been reported among patients who have consumed raw marmot meat [5,6,10]. The wifés concealment of consumption of raw marmot meat contributed to a delayed diagnosis. Because hunting marmots has been prohibited by the Mongolian government since 2014, Mongolians fear punishment when they admit this activity. Marmot, prepared as boodog (filled with hot stones), is a national dish in Mongolia (Figure 1(B–D)), and, because Mongolians assume that boodog has healthful benefits, marmot hunting is a covert activity. When marmots are prepared for boodog, especially before the fur is burnt away with a blowtorch, fleas infected with Y. pestis may change their host, thereby typically causing bubonic plague. Marmota sibirica, a species that also lives in Western Mongolia, exhibits a relatively high resistance to plague (50%–80% survive infection), a feature that has been suggested to play an important role in the persistence of the pathogen [3].

The habit of eating infected raw marmot meat is a possible means of infection with plague in Mongolia. Cooking efficiently inactivates Y. pestis [11]: thus, infections in Mongolia are associated with consumption of raw meat, not with the consumption of cooked boodog. The most important mode of Y. pestis infection in Mongolia is close contact with infected marmots. A study from Zambia [12] found that the risk of transfer of Y. pestis from infected fleas on captured animals to humans is higher during hunting and transporting of marmots rather than during preparation of animals for food. That study showed that hunting behaviour, mode of transportation of carcasses, and method of preparation of carcasses may substantially influence the risk of flea transmission.

A diagnosis of plague should be considered in areas with active plague foci, including the Bayan Ulgii aimag in the western part of Mongolia [3,13] where the dead couple resided. Only few reports of plague connected with the consumption of raw meat have been published to date; most cases are associated with the consumption of raw or undercooked camel meat [5–7,10]. The patients reported here had no fleabites and their predominant symptoms were bloody vomitus and sepsis in one case and gastrointestinal symptoms and pharyngeal inflammation in the other. Therefore, we conclude that the infections were caused by the consumption of raw marmot meat.

Marmot meat is considered a delicacy in Mongolia, but its consumption confers a risk of Y. pestis infection. In plague-endemic districts, healthcare professionals obtaining a patient´s medical history should ask about consumption of marmot and plague should be considered as a tentative diagnosis. Communicating the risk of Y. pestis infection after close contact with or consumption of marmot meat, especially raw meat, may increase the awareness of plague among the population.

Go to:

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Go to:

References

1. Perry RD, Fetherston JD.. Yersinia pestis–etiologic agent of plague[Historical Article Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. Review]. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1997 Jan;10(1):35–66. doi: 10.1128/CMR.10.1.35 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
2. Ben-Ari T, Neerinckx S, Gage KL, et al. . Plague and climate: scales matter [Review]. PLoS Pathog. 2011 Sep;7(9):e1002160. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002160 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
3. Galdan B, Baatar U, Molotov B, et al. . Plague in Mongolia [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2010 Jan-Feb;10(1):69–75. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2009.0047 [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
4. Riehm JM, Tserennorov D, Kiefer D, et al. . Yersinia pestis in small rodents, Mongolia [Letter]. Emerging Infect. Dis.. 2011 Jul;17(7):1320–1322. doi: 10.3201/eid1707.100740 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
5. Christie AB, Chen TH, Elberg SS.. Plague in camels and goats: their role in human epidemics [Case reports]. J Infect Dis. 1980 Jun;141(6):724–726. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.6.724 [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
6. Bin Saeed AA, Al-Hamdan NA, Fontaine RE.. Plague from eating raw camel liver [Case reports]. Emerging Infect. Dis.. 2005 Sep;11(9):1456–1457. doi: 10.3201/eid1109.050081 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
7. Leslie T, Whitehouse CA, Yingst S, et al. . Outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Yersinia pestis in Afghanistan [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Epidemiol Infect. 2011 May;139(5):728–735. doi: 10.1017/S0950268810001792 [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
8. Sun W, Singh AK.. Plague vaccine: recent progress and prospects [Review]. NPJ Vaccines. 2019;4(11):1–11. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
9. Sagiyev Z, Berdibekov A, Bolger T, et al. . Human response to live plague vaccine EV, Almaty region, Kazakhstan, 2014-2015 [Historical Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. PloS one. 2019;14(6):e0218366. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218366 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
10. Arbaji A, Kharabsheh S, Al-Azab S, et al. . A 12-case outbreak of pharyngeal plague following the consumption of camel meat, in north-eastern Jordan. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 2005 Dec;99(8):789–793. doi: 10.1179/136485905X65161 [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
11. Porto-Fett AC, Juneja VK, Tamplin ML, et al. . Validation of cooking times and temperatures for thermal inactivation of Yersinia pestis strains KIM5 and CDC-A1122 in irradiated ground beef [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, Non-P.H.S.]. J Food Prot. 2009 Mar;72(3):564–571. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X-72.3.564 [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
12. Nyirenda SS, Hang’ombe BM, Machang’u R, et al. . Identification of risk factors associated with transmission of plague disease in Eastern Zambia. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017 Sep;97(3):826–830. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.16-0990 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
13. Ebright JR, Altantsetseg T, Oyungerel R.. Emerging infectious diseases in Mongolia [Review]. Emerging Infect. Dis.. 2003 Dec;9(12):1509–1515. doi: 10.3201/eid0912.020520 [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020; 9(1): 1878–1880.
Published online 2020 Aug 21. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1807412
PMCID: PMC7473306
PMID: 32762515
Jan Kehrmann,a Walter Popp,b,c Battumur Delgermaa,d Damdin Otgonbayar,d Tsagaan Gantumur,e Jan Buer,a and Nyamdorj Tsogbadrakhd


News Tagged: plague

How Plague Bacteria Could Be Hiding Everywhere Around Us

April 25, 2020 by PDP

Plague is a highly contagious disease that has killed millions of people over the past 1,400 years. Outbreaks still sporadically occur in as many as 36 countries worldwide. Perhaps one of the greatest remaining mysteries surrounding plague is how and where it survives between outbreaks.

Read More:  Plague

News Tagged: plague

FLEA PARASITISM AND HOST SURVIVAL IN A PLAGUE-RELEVANT SYSTEM: THEORETICAL AND CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS.

December 30, 2019 by PDP

Author information:
1. US Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Avenue, Building C, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA’.
2. US Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006 Schroeder Road, Madison, WI 53711, USA

Abstract

Plague is a bacterial zoonosis of mammalian hosts and flea vectors. The disease is capable of ravaging rodent populations and transforming ecosystems. Because plague mortality is likely to be predicted by flea parasitism, it is critical to understand vector dynamics. It has been hypothesized that paltry precipitation and reduced vegetative production predispose herbivorous rodents to malnourishment and flea parasitism, and flea parasitism varies directly with plague mortality. We evaluated these hypotheses on five colonies of Utah prairie dogs (UPDs; Cynomys parvidens), on the Awapa Plateau, Utah, USA, in 2013-16. Ten flea species were identified among 3,257 fleas from UPDs. These 10 flea species parasitize prairie dogs, mice, rats, voles, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots, all known hosts of plague. The abundance of fleas on individual UPDs (1,198 observations) varied inversely with UPD body condition; fleas were most abundant on lightweight, malnourished UPDs. Flea abundance on UPDs was highest in dry years that were preceded by wet years. Increased precipitation and soil moisture in the prior year might generate humid microclimates in UPD burrows (that could facilitate flea survival and reproduction) and paltry precipitation in the current year could predispose UPDs to malnourishment and flea parasitism. Annual re-encounter rates for UPDs (1,072 observations) were reduced in wetter years preceded by drier years; reduced precipitation and vegetative production might kill UPDs, and increased flea densities in drier years could provide conditions for plague transmission (and UPD mortality) when moisture returns. Re-encounter rates were reduced for UPDs carrying at least one flea compared to UPDs with no detected fleas. These results support the hypothesis that reduced precipitation in the current year predisposes UPDs to flea parasitism. Our results also suggest a link between flea parasitism and UPD mortality. Given documented connections between flea parasitism and plague transmission, our results point toward an effect of flea parasitism on plague-related deaths for individual UPDs, a phenomenon rarely investigated in nature.

 

PMID: 31880988

News Tagged: plague

Next Page »
Donate Now
Tweets by @CynomysRex

Categories

  • Conservation
  • Donate
  • Fun
  • How You Can Help
  • Information about Prairie Dogs
  • News
  • PDP Operations
  • Shop
  • Wildlife

Tags

artificial burrows behavior black-footed ferret black-tailed prairie dogs breeding Burrowing Owls burrows cage caps colonies Conservation disease ecology Endangered Species Act events feeding flushing fundraising gophers Gunnison habitat handouts hantavirus hibernation humane pest control keystone species landscape design language nesting box newsletter outreach owls photos plague poison Prairie Dog Coalition Prairie Dog Day predators rabies relocation Sevilleta shooting squirrels trapping volunteer white-tailed prairie dogs

Links

  • Albuquerque Pet Memorial Service
  • Animal Protection New Mexico
  • Animal Protection Voters
  • Bosque Farm Relocation Project
  • Great Plains Restoration Council
  • Midwest Prairie Dog Shelter
  • New Mexico House Rabbit Society
  • New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
  • Pathways: Wildlife Corridors of NM
  • Prairie Dog Coalition
  • Southwest Veterinary Medical Center
  • VCA Veterinary Hospital
  • Wild Earth Guardians

© Copyright 2015 PrairieDogPals.org | Help a Prairie Dog Today!