Results of a plague investigation in Kenya

Abstract
Intensive field studies around Rongai in Kenya, following an outbreak of plague, indicate that the wild rodents - in themselves quite resistant to the plague-harbor Pasteurella pestis and carry sylvatic plague which can be transmitted by fleas to house rats and to man - directly or indirectly. P. pestis probably was present in such wild rodents even before man and the rat entered the area. Arvicanthus abyssinicus and Mastomys coucha are the main rodent reservoir hosts and the fleas Xenopsylla cheopis and Dinopsylla lypusus the chief transmitting agents. Other wild rodents and fleas are believed to be of little importance as reservoirs or vectors in the Kenya plague area.

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