Plague and the human flea, Tanzania
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Date
2007
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Abstract
Domestic fl eas were collected in 12 villages in the
western Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. Of these, 7 are
considered villages with high plague frequency, where hu-
man plague was recorded during at least 6 of the 17 plague
seasons between 1986 and 2004. In the remaining 5 vil-
lages with low plague frequency, plague was either rare or
unrecorded. Pulex irritans, known as the human fl ea, was
the predominant fl ea species (72.4%) in houses. The den-
sity of P. irritans, but not of other domestic fl eas, was signifi -
cantly higher in villages with a higher plague frequency or
incidence. Moreover, the P. irritans index was strongly posi-
tively correlated with plague frequency and with the logarith-
mically transformed plague incidence. These observations
suggest that in Lushoto District human fl eas may play a role
in plague epidemiology. These fi ndings are of immediate
public health relevance because they provide an indicator
that can be surveyed to assess the risk for plague.
Description
Keywords
Plague, Human Flea, Western Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, Domestic fleas