Plague in Africa from 1935 to 1949; a survey of wild rodents in African territories

Abstract

The history of plague in Africa during the period 1935-49 is reviewed. Much of the information derives from a questionnaire sent to all African territories in 1950. The annual incidence of plague in Africa declined, particularly from 1946 onwards. In 1949, under 400 cases were reported, as compared with over 6,000 in 1935. By the end of 1949, plague was still active in the Belgian Congo, Kenya and Tanganyika, Madagascar, and southern Africa. No cases were reported from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, or Uganda during 1949. A comparison of the seasonal incidence of plague with prevailing atmospheric conditions (temperature and rainfall) in African territories shows that human plague is more frequent in warm moist weather-60 degrees -80 degrees F (15 degrees -27 degrees C)-than in hot dry, or cold, weather-over 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) or under 60 degrees F (15 degrees C). The highlands of equatorial Africa and of Madagascar appear to provide the optimum environment for the persistence of plague on the domestic (murine) plane and the high-veld and Kalahari of southern Africa on the sylvatic plane. The rat (Rattus rattus) and the multimammate mouse (R. (Mastomys) natalensis) and their fleas Xenopsylla brasiliensis and X. cheopis appear to be mainly responsible for the persistence of the reservoir in the East African highlands; R. rattus and X. cheopis play this role in Madagascar. The gerbils (Tatera and Desmodillus) and their burrow fleas X. philoxera and X. piriei are the main reservoirs of plague in southern Africa. Within these areas, Pasteurella pestis finds an environment suitable for its continued survival; the conditions seem to be comparable to those defined as obtaining in endemic centres in India. Elsewhere in Africa such endemic centres do not appear to exist.