Pneumonic Plague Outbreak, Northern Madagascar, 2011

International audience Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is endemic to Madagascar, particularly to the central highlands. Although plague has not been previously reported in northern Madagascar, an outbreak of pneumonic plague occurred in this remote area in 2011. Over a 27-day period...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emerging Infectious Diseases
Main Authors: Richard, Vincent, Riehm, Julia M., Herindrainy, Perlinot, Soanandrasana, Rahelinirina, Ratsitoharina, Maherisoa, Rakotomanana, Fanjasoa, Andrianalimanana, Samuel, Scholz, Holger C., Rajerison, Minoarisoa
Other Authors: Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Epidemiology Unit, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP)-Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur (RIIP), Unité Peste - Plague Unit Antananarivo, Madagascar, INSTAT Madagascar (INSTAT), INSTAT Madagascar
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2015
Subjects:
Pneumonic Plague
Outbreak
Northern Madagascar
[SDV.MHEP.MI]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Human health and pathology/Infectious diseases
The ''Y''
Rattus rattus
Online Access:https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01300528
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01300528/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01300528/file/Peste_Richard_eid%20ambilobe_2015.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2101.131828
Description
Summary:International audience Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is endemic to Madagascar, particularly to the central highlands. Although plague has not been previously reported in northern Madagascar, an outbreak of pneumonic plague occurred in this remote area in 2011. Over a 27-day period , 17 suspected, 2 presumptive, and 3 confirmed human cases were identified,and all 15 of untreated patients died. Molecular typing of Y. pestis isolated from 2 survivors and 5 Rattus rattus rat samples identified the Madagascar-specific 1.ORI3-k single-nucleotide polymorphism genotype and 4 clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat patterns. This outbreak had a case-fatality rate of 100% for nontreated patients. The Y. pestis 1.ORI3-k single-nucleotide polymorphism genotype might cause larger epidemics. Multidrug-resistant strains and persistence of the pathogen in natural foci near human settlements pose severe risks to populations in plague-endemic regions and require outbreak response strategies.

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