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. 2009 Oct;9(5):491-7.
doi: 10.1089/vbz.2008.0075.

Are carnivores universally good sentinels of plague?

R Jory Brinkerhoff  1 , Sharon K Collinge, Ying Bai, Chris Ray
Affiliations

Are carnivores universally good sentinels of plague?

R Jory Brinkerhoff et al. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is a flea-borne disease that primarily affects rodents but has been detected in over 200 mammal species worldwide. Mammalian carnivores are routinely surveyed as sentinels of local plague activity, since they can present antibodies to Y. pestis infection but show few clinical signs. In Boulder County, Colorado, USA, plague epizootic events are episodic and occur in black-tailed prairie dogs. Enzootic hosts are unidentified as are plague foci. For three years, we systematically sampled carnivores in two distinct habitat types to determine whether carnivores may play a role in maintenance or transmission of Y. pestis and to identify habitats associated with increased plague prevalence. We sampled 83 individuals representing six carnivore species and found only two that had been exposed to Y. pestis. The low overall rate of plague exposure in carnivores suggests that plague may be ephemeral in this study system, and thus we cannot draw any conclusions regarding habitat-associated plague foci or temporal changes in plague activity. Plague epizootics involving prairie dogs were confirmed in this study system during two of the three years of this study, and we therefore suggest that the targeting carnivores to survey for plague may not be appropriate in all ecological systems.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Map representing the location of Boulder County in Colorado as well as the locations of the six sites where carnivores were sampled. The dashed vertical line approximates the eastward extent of the Colorado Front Range foothills.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Probability density function across possible values of plague prevalence given our observed rate of plague exposure in Boulder County carnivores. The black dot on the x-axis represents the most likely prevalence value (2.6%) and the dark line represents the 95% confidence interval.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Locations of sampling sites relative to sites at which plague was observed in 2005 (open circles) and 2006 (gray-filled circles).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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