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CJEM Mar 2021
Topics: Humans; Pandemics; Physicians; Plague
PubMed: 33709350
DOI: 10.1007/s43678-020-00002-w -
International Journal of Environmental... Aug 2022All pathogenic organisms are exposed to abiotic influences such as the microclimates and chemical constituents of their environments. Even those pathogens that exist... (Review)
Review
All pathogenic organisms are exposed to abiotic influences such as the microclimates and chemical constituents of their environments. Even those pathogens that exist primarily within their hosts or vectors can be influenced directly or indirectly. Yersinia pestis, the flea-borne bacterium causing plague, is influenced by climate and its survival in soil suggests a potentially strong influence of soil chemistry. We summarize a series of controlled studies conducted over four decades in Russia by Dr. Evgeny Rotshild and his colleagues that investigated correlations between trace metals in soils, plants, and insects, and the detection of plague in free-ranging small mammals. Trace metal concentrations in plots where plague was detected were up to 20-fold higher or lower compared to associated control plots, and these differences were >2-fold in 22 of 38 comparisons. The results were statistically supported in eight studies involving seven host species in three families and two orders of small mammals. Plague tended to be positively associated with manganese and cobalt, and the plague association was negative for copper, zinc, and molybdenum. In additional studies, these investigators detected similar connections between pasturellosis and concentrations of some chemical elements. A One Health narrative should recognize that the chemistry of soil and water may facilitate or impede epidemics in humans and epizootics in non-human animals.
Topics: Animals; Climate; Humans; Mammals; Plague; Siphonaptera; Soil; Yersinia pestis
PubMed: 36011612
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19169979 -
Cirugia Y Cirujanos 2020
Topics: Betacoronavirus; COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections; Fear; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Humans; Influenza, Human; Pandemics; Plague; Pneumonia, Viral; Quarantine; SARS-CoV-2; Social Media; Symptom Assessment; Time Factors
PubMed: 32538983
DOI: 10.24875/CIRU.20000234 -
Biomolecules May 2021Plague-a deadly disease caused by the bacterium -is still an international public health concern. There are three main clinical forms: bubonic plague, septicemic plague,... (Review)
Review
Plague-a deadly disease caused by the bacterium -is still an international public health concern. There are three main clinical forms: bubonic plague, septicemic plague, and pulmonary plague. In all three forms, the symptoms appear suddenly and progress very rapidly. Early antibiotic therapy is essential for countering the disease. Several classes of antibiotics (e.g., tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, sulfonamides, chloramphenicol, rifamycin, and β-lactams) are active in vitro against the majority of strains and have demonstrated efficacy in various animal models. However, some discrepancies have been reported. Hence, health authorities have approved and recommended several drugs for prophylactic or curative use. Only monotherapy is currently recommended; combination therapy has not shown any benefits in preclinical studies or case reports. Concerns about the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of have led to the development of new classes of antibiotics and other therapeutics (e.g., LpxC inhibitors, cationic peptides, antivirulence drugs, predatory bacteria, phages, immunotherapy, host-directed therapy, and nutritional immunity). It is difficult to know which of the currently available treatments or therapeutics in development will be most effective for a given form of plague. This is due to the lack of standardization in preclinical studies, conflicting data from case reports, and the small number of clinical trials performed to date.
Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Host Microbial Interactions; Humans; Immunotherapy; Plague; Vaccines; Yersinia pestis
PubMed: 34065940
DOI: 10.3390/biom11050724 -
Biomolecules Nov 2020The Gram-negative bacterium causes plague, a fatal flea-borne anthropozoonosis, which can progress to aerosol-transmitted pneumonia. overcomes the innate immunity of... (Review)
Review
The Gram-negative bacterium causes plague, a fatal flea-borne anthropozoonosis, which can progress to aerosol-transmitted pneumonia. overcomes the innate immunity of its host thanks to many pathogenicity factors, including plasminogen activator, Pla. This factor is a broad-spectrum outer membrane protease also acting as adhesin and invasin. uses Pla adhesion and proteolytic capacity to manipulate the fibrinolytic cascade and immune system to produce bacteremia necessary for pathogen transmission via fleabite or aerosols. Because of microevolution, invasiveness has increased significantly after a single amino-acid substitution (I259T) in Pla of one of the oldest phylogenetic groups. This mutation caused a better ability to activate plasminogen. In paradox with its fibrinolytic activity, Pla cleaves and inactivates the tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), a key inhibitor of the coagulation cascade. This function in the plague remains enigmatic. Pla (or ) had been used as a specific marker of , but its solitary detection is no longer valid as this gene is present in other species of . Though recovering hosts generate anti-Pla antibodies, Pla is not a good subunit vaccine. However, its deletion increases the safety of attenuated strains, providing a means to generate a safe live plague vaccine.
Topics: Animals; Antigens, Bacterial; Humans; Plague; Plague Vaccine; Plasminogen Activators; Point Mutation; Protein Interaction Maps; Protein Structure, Secondary; Yersinia pestis
PubMed: 33202679
DOI: 10.3390/biom10111554 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2016Three major plague pandemics caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis have killed nearly 200 million people in human history. Due to its extreme virulence... (Review)
Review
Three major plague pandemics caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis have killed nearly 200 million people in human history. Due to its extreme virulence and the ease of its transmission, Y. pestis has been used purposefully for biowarfare in the past. Currently, plague epidemics are still breaking out sporadically in most of parts of the world, including the United States. Approximately 2000 cases of plague are reported each year to the World Health Organization. However, the potential use of the bacteria in modern times as an agent of bioterrorism and the emergence of a Y. pestis strain resistant to eight antibiotics bring out severe public health concerns. Therefore, prophylactic vaccination against this disease holds the brightest prospect for its long-term prevention. Here, we summarize the progress of the current vaccine development for counteracting plague.
Topics: Epidemics; Genetic Vectors; Global Health; Humans; Plague; Plague Vaccine; Vaccines, Attenuated; Vaccines, Subunit
PubMed: 27722869
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-024-0890-4_12 -
Scientific Reports Jul 2023The incidence of plague has rebounded in the Americas, Asia, and Africa alongside rapid globalization and climate change. Previous studies have shown local climate to...
The incidence of plague has rebounded in the Americas, Asia, and Africa alongside rapid globalization and climate change. Previous studies have shown local climate to have significant nonlinear effects on plague dynamics among rodent communities. We analyzed an 18-year database of plague, spanning 1998 to 2015, in the foci of Mongolia and China to trace the associations between marmot plague and climate factors. Our results suggested a density-dependent effect of precipitation and a geographic location-dependent effect of temperature on marmot plague. That is, a significantly positive relationship was evident between risk of plague and precipitation only when the marmot density exceeded a certain threshold. The geographical heterogeneity of the temperature effect and the contrasting slopes of influence for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and other regions in the study (nQTP) were primarily related to diversity of climate and landscape types.
Topics: Animals; Plague; Marmota; Mongolia; China; Tibet; Rodentia
PubMed: 37488160
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-38966-1 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Nov 2019Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is transmitted through the bites of infected rodent fleas. Plague is well known for causing 3... (Review)
Review
Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is transmitted through the bites of infected rodent fleas. Plague is well known for causing 3 major human pandemics that have killed millions of people since 541 A.D. The aim of this Review is to provide an overview of the epidemiology and ecology of plague in Zimbabwe with special emphasis on its introduction, its potential reservoirs and vectors, and possible causes of its persistence and cyclic outbreaks. To achieve this, we carried out a search and document reported plague outbreaks in Zimbabwe. In the country, human plague cases have been reported in Hwange, Nkayi, and Lupane since 1974. The highest number of cases occurred in 1994 in the Nkayi district of Matabeleland North Province with a total of 329 confirmed human cases and 28 deaths. Plague is encountered in 2 different foci in the country, sylvatic and rural. Risk factors for contracting plague in the country include man-to-rodent contact, cultivation, hunting, cattle herding, handling of infected materials, camping in forests, and anthropic invasion of new areas. Plague is now enzootic in Zimbabwe, and the most recent case was reported in 2012, hence its effective control requires up-to-date information on the epidemiology and ecology of the disease. This can be achieved through continuous monitoring and awareness programs in plague-prone areas.
Topics: Africa, Southern; Animals; Cattle; Databases, Factual; Disease Outbreaks; Disease Reservoirs; Disease Susceptibility; Ecology; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Plague; Risk Factors; Rodent Diseases; Rodentia; Soil Microbiology; Yersinia pestis; Zimbabwe
PubMed: 31751348
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007761 -
Database : the Journal of Biological... Nov 2022Plague has been confirmed as an extremely horrific international quarantine infectious disease attributed to Yersinia pestis. It has an extraordinarily high lethal rate...
Plague has been confirmed as an extremely horrific international quarantine infectious disease attributed to Yersinia pestis. It has an extraordinarily high lethal rate that poses a serious hazard to human and animal lives. With the deepening of research, there has been a considerable amount of literature related to the plague that has never been systematically integrated. Indeed, it makes researchers time-consuming and laborious when they conduct some investigation. Accordingly, integrating and excavating plague-related knowledge from considerable literature takes on a critical significance. Moreover, a comprehensive plague knowledge base should be urgently built. To solve the above issues, the plague knowledge base is built for the first time. A database is built from the literature mining based on knowledge graph, which is capable of storing, retrieving, managing and accessing data. First, 5388 plague-related abstracts that were obtained automatically from PubMed are integrated, and plague entity dictionary and ontology knowledge base are constructed by using text mining technology. Second, the scattered plague-related knowledge is correlated through knowledge graph technology. A multifactor correlation knowledge graph centered on plague is formed, which contains 9633 nodes of 33 types (e.g. disease, gene, protein, species, symptom, treatment and geographic location), as well as 9466 association relations (e.g. disease-gene, gene-protein and disease-species). The Neo4j graph database is adopted to store and manage the relational data in the form of triple. Lastly, a plague knowledge base is built, which can successfully manage and visualize a large amount of structured plague-related data. This knowledge base almost provides an integrated and comprehensive plague-related knowledge. It should not only help researchers to better understand the complex pathogenesis and potential therapeutic approaches of plague but also take on a key significance to reference for exploring potential action mechanisms of corresponding drug candidates and the development of vaccine in the future. Furthermore, it is of great significance to promote the field of plague research. Researchers are enabled to acquire data more easily for more effective research. Database URL: http://39.104.28.169:18095/.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Plague; Pattern Recognition, Automated; Databases, Factual; Knowledge; Knowledge Bases
PubMed: 36412326
DOI: 10.1093/database/baac100 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases May 2024Plague continues to be a major public health concern in African countries. Several social practices and environmental conditions have been associated with the...
INTRODUCTION
Plague continues to be a major public health concern in African countries. Several social practices and environmental conditions have been associated with the reoccurrence of bubonic plague, especially in places where the disease is prevalent. Therefore, it remains important to understand people knowledge, behavior and practices related to disease risks in order to identify factors that may hinder prevention and control strategies in the foci.
METHODS AND RESULTS
A study survey of 100 households was conducted in Mbulu district to assess plague knowledge, factors that influence flea bite and measures used for rodent and flea control. Majority of participants (86%) were familiar with the plague disease and about (50%) mentioned swelling lymph nodes as a common symptom. Most of the participants (62%) claimed to observe human plague cases during the long rain season. The majority of participants (97%) reported to experience flea bite in their domestic settings, with most stating that they experienced more flea bites during the dry season. Houses with livestock had a greater likelihood of flea bite (OR = 2.7; 95% CI: 0.36-18.80, p = 0.267) compared to houses with no livestock. Furthermore, residents reported using both local and chemical methods to control rodents and flea inside houses. Most respondents preferred using local methods in flea control. Respondents stated that the efficacy of flea control methods being applied ranged from few days to several months. There was limited knowledge of the residual effects of the agricultural chemicals being used to control fleas among the surveyed community.
CONCLUSION
Our study highlights the importance of raising awareness and adopting effective control methods for controlling fleas and lower the risk of plague transmission and other flea borne diseases in the local communities. Sensitization of the local community on the use of appropriate chemicals for flea control is urgent to avoid any potential long-term impacts of the residual effects on the health of the local communities.
Topics: Plague; Tanzania; Humans; Animals; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Female; Adult; Male; Siphonaptera; Middle Aged; Young Adult; Surveys and Questionnaires; Rodentia; Adolescent; Insect Bites and Stings; Endemic Diseases
PubMed: 38814990
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012202