{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T10:11:46Z","timestamp":1790417506447,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Plague is a fatal, primarily rodent-flea-borne zoonotic disease caused by <jats:italic>Yersinia pestis<\/jats:italic>. The identification of risk factors of plague was investigated through questionnaire interview and conducting focus group discussion (FGD) in Sinda and Nyimba districts of eastern Zambia. A total of 104 questionnaires were administered to individual respondents and 20 groups consisting of 181 discussants, which comprised FGD team in this study. The study revealed that trapping, transportation, and preparation of rodents for food exposed the community to rodent and their fleas suggesting that plague may have occurred primarily by either flea bites or contact with infected wild rodents. The study also revealed that most people in communities consumed rodents as part of their regular diet; therefore, contact with small wild mammals was a common practice. The mode of transportation of freshly trapped rodents, in particular, carcasses risked human to flea bites. Questionnaire respondents (75%) and FGD discussants (55%) indicated that trappers preferred to carry rodent carcasses in small bags, whereas 55.8% and 20% respectively, reported hunters carrying carcasses in their pockets. Carrying of carcass skewers on trappers\u2019 shoulders was reported by 38.4% and 20% of individual respondents and FGD, respectively. All these activities were exposing humans to rodents and their fleas, the natural reservoirs and vectors of plague, respectively. This study also showed that there is a statistically significant (\u03c7<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> = 4.6878, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.05), between digging of rodents from their burrows and the presence of fleas on the hunter\u2019s bodies or clothes, which exposes humans to potentially flea bites in an enzootic cycle.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.16-0990","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,13]],"date-time":"2017-06-13T07:00:38Z","timestamp":1497337238000},"page":"826-830","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Identification of Risk Factors Associated with Transmission of Plague Disease in Eastern Zambia"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"97","author":[{"given":"Stanley S.","family":"Nyirenda","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Central Veterinary Research Institute, Lusaka, Zambia;"},{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bernard M.","family":"Hang\u2019ombe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Microbiology, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert","family":"Machang\u2019u","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, Parasitology and Immunology, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jackson","family":"Mwanza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Central Veterinary Research Institute, Lusaka, Zambia;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bukheti S.","family":"Kilonzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"b1","series-title":"J. Zoonotic Dis.","first-page":"1","article-title":"Factors that precipitated human plague in Zambia from 1914 to 2014: an overview for a century (100 years)","volume":"1","author":"Nyirenda","year":"2016"},{"key":"b2","series-title":"Bull World Health Organ","first-page":"405","article-title":"The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa","volume":"23","author":"Davis","year":"1960"},{"key":"b3","author":"Low","year":"1920"},{"key":"b4","series-title":"Trop Doct","first-page":"38","article-title":"Molecular, serological and epidemiological observations after a suspected outbreak of plague in Nyimba, eastern Zambia","volume":"47","author":"Nyirenda","year":"2017"},{"key":"b5","series-title":"Cent Afr J Med","first-page":"116","article-title":"An outbreak of plague at Chitokoloki, Balovale","volume":"1","author":"Worsfold","year":"1955"},{"key":"b6","series-title":"Acta Trop","first-page":"215","article-title":"Preliminary observations on factors responsible for long persistence and continued outbreaks of plague in Lushoto district, Tanzania","volume":"68","author":"Kilonzo","year":"1997"},{"key":"b7","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"1047","article-title":"Identification of risk factors for plague in the West Nile Region of Uganda","volume":"90","author":"Eisen","year":"2014"},{"key":"b8","series-title":"Belgium J Zool","first-page":"119","article-title":"The role of rodents and small carnivores in plague endemicity in Tanzania","volume":"135","author":"Kilonzo","year":"2005"},{"key":"b9","series-title":"Trop Doct","first-page":"223","article-title":"Knowledge, attitudes and public health response towards plague in Petauke, Zambia","volume":"36","author":"Ngulube","year":"2006"},{"key":"b10","author":"Ogen-Odoi","year":"1993"},{"key":"b11","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"949","article-title":"Early-phase transmission of Yersinia pestis by cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) and their potential role as vectors in a plague-endemic region of Uganda","volume":"78","author":"Eisen","year":"2008"},{"key":"b12","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1414","article-title":"Yersinia pestis in Pulex irritans fleas during plague outbreak, Madagascar","volume":"20","author":"Ratovonjato","year":"2014"},{"key":"b13","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1456","article-title":"Plague from eating raw camel liver","volume":"11","author":"Bin Saeed","year":"2005"},{"key":"b14","series-title":"J Infect Dis","first-page":"724","article-title":"Plague in camels and goats: their role in human epidemics","volume":"141","author":"Christie","year":"1980"},{"key":"b15","series-title":"Clin Infect Dis","first-page":"e33","article-title":"Primary pneumonic plague contracted from a mountain lion carcass","volume":"49","author":"Wong","year":"2009"},{"key":"b16","article-title":"Fears of a mass bubonic plague outbreak in Russia: Thousands given emergency vaccinations after boy contracts the disease","author":"Will","year":"2016"},{"key":"b17","series-title":"Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"97","article-title":"Human plague occurrences in Africa: an overview from 1877 to 2008","volume":"104","author":"Neerinckx","year":"2010"},{"key":"b18","series-title":"Bull World Health Organ","first-page":"405","article-title":"The Luangwa Valley plague outbreaks and their significance in relation to Savannah plague in Central Africa","volume":"23","author":"Davis","year":"1960"},{"key":"b19","series-title":"Heal Inf Bull","first-page":"1","volume":"2","year":"1978"},{"key":"b20","series-title":"Clin Infect Dis","first-page":"185","article-title":"A dog-associated primary pneumonic plague in Qinghai Province, China","volume":"52","author":"Wang","year":"2011"},{"key":"b21","series-title":"BMC Res Notes","first-page":"72","article-title":"Evidence of Yersinia pestis DNA from fleas in an endemic plague area of Zambia","volume":"5","author":"Hang\u2019ombe","year":"2012"},{"key":"b22","series-title":"E African J Med Res","first-page":"117","article-title":"A survey of rodents and their flea ectoparasites in north-eastern Tanzania","volume":"3","author":"Kilonzo","year":"1976"}],"container-title":["The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and 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