Identification of Plague Hosts and Vectors in Lushoto District of Tanzania.
Keywords:
Plague, Hosts, Vectors, Lushoto, Tanzania.Abstract
Plague is a zoonotic disease, endemic throughout the world except Australia and Antarctica. In Africa the disease has been reported in countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mozambique, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Surveillance work done in Mbulu and Karatu plague foci revealed the evidence of Yersinia pestis in rodents despite lack of disease outbreaks. The information obtained prompted a study to be done in another plague focus of Lushoto. In this study live trapping of wild and commensal rodents was done after which fleas were collected. Nine rodent species of captured and these includes Mastomys (33%), Rattus rattus (25.9%), Praomys (14.3%), Lophuromys (14.3%), Grammomys (8%), Beamys (1.8%), Arvicanths (0.9%), Croccidura (1.8%) and Mus (0.9%). Of the rodents identified Mastomys (33%), Rattus rattus (25.9%), Arvicanths (0.9%), and Mus (0.9%)
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