Serological and etiological surveillance of plague in Yiwu, Zhejiang, 2006-2011

Objective To understand the distribution of host animals and vectors of plague in historic plague focus in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, and provide evidence for the development of local plague prevention and control strategies. Methods Plague pathogen isolation and indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA) were conducted, caf1 and pla, the specific genes of Yersinia pestis, were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results From 2006 to 2011, 4207 serum samples collected from roden-like animals were detected and the IHA results were all were negative. No plague pathogen was isolated from 4592 liver samples and 4592 spleen samples of rodent-like animals and 115 flea samples taken from rats. The PCR detection results of caf1 and pla genes in 931 rodent-like animal organs and 115 flea samples were negative too. Conclusion No sign of rat plague was found in the historic plague focus in Yiwu, but it is still necessary to continue the surveillance of plague there.