Abstract

PEDROSO FLAQUET, Plácido. Re-emergence of the plague: an infectious and contagious disease. Rev Cubana Med Gen Integr [online]. 2010, vol.26, n.2, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3038.

Plague is a re-emergent infectious and contagious disease. Its natural reservoirs in vertebrates are the wild rodents. Rabbits and hares, the wild carnivores and the domestic cats also may be an infection source for human beings. It is caused by Yersinia pestis and transmitted by the flea Xenopsylla cheopis affecting both animals and humans. In Europe during XIX century it caused a devastating pandemic. It is a zoonosis very virulent and a potentially lethal bacterial disease. It persists in natural foci producing recurrent outbreak in many world places. Plague is acquired in a natural way due to interference of people in the zoonosis cycle or due to introduction of wild rodents or their infected fleas in human beings habitat. Prevention and control measures must to be aimed to decrease and the control of rodents and fleas.

Keywords : Plague; re-emergent disease; reservoir.

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