Yersinia pestis infection epidemiology and demographics
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Serge Korjian, Yazan Daaboul
Epidemiology and Demographics
Given its ability to cause serious pandemics, plague is one of the three diseases subject to the International Health Regulations, the other two being yellow fever and cholera. Yersinia pestis in found in animal reservoirs, especially in rodents which are often responsible for the rapid spread of the disease. Natural foci of plague are found all over the world, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes and in warm regions of the temperate latitudes. All continents are known to harbor natural plague foci except Australia. It is important to note that natural foci of plague shift in response to changes in climate, landscape, and rodent population migration.[1]
Known as the black death, plague pandemics have caused significant casualties in the last 2 millennia. The first certain pandemic recorded in the sixth century AD spread across Asia, Africa and Europe claiming approximately 100,000,000 lives. The fourteenth century witnessed the second pandemic, with no less than 50,000,000 casualties. The third pandemic came in the late nineteenth century mostly affecting India with 13,000,000 recorded deaths.[2]
During the period from 1954 to 1997, plague affected 38 countries, with 80 613 cases and 6587 deaths.[1] Between 2004 and 2009, the WHO reported that the number of cases of plague worldwide was 12,503, with 843 deaths, for a case-fatality rate of 6.7%.[3]
Patients of all ages and both sexes are susceptible to disease; however, cases in the last few decades have been more common in children.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 World Health Organization (1999). "Plague Manual: Epidemiology, Distribution, Surveillance and Control". WHO/CDS/CSR/EDC.
- ↑ Cohn SK (2008). "Epidemiology of the Black Death and successive waves of plague". Med Hist Suppl (27): 74–100. PMC 2630035. PMID 18575083.
- ↑ "Human plague: review of regional morbidity and mortality, 2004-2009". Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 85 (6): 40–5. 2009. PMID 20151494.
- ↑ Butler T (2009). "Plague into the 21st century". Clin Infect Dis. 49 (5): 736–42. doi:10.1086/604718. PMID 19606935.