Cavia porcellus, reservoir of Yersinia pestis in the border areas Peru - Ecuador: Education is the key to control

Abstract

Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, of the Enterobacteriaceae family, clinically it presents three forms: bubonic, primary septicemic and primary pneumonic. The disease transmission cycle is carried out in a closed manner between wild rodents and the vector, called enzootic behavior; however, transmission can reach man and other mammals in the zoonotic and epizootic cycles. This disease has transcended through the centuries causing considerable mortality and forcing important demographic changes throughout the globe. In current history, it has had an endemic behavior, observing an incidence of cases and mortality in consecutive years, but as time passes, it has focused on potential areas of natural transmission, one of them being the border area of Peru and Ecuador. A common element in both nations is the breeding and commercialization, and in some cases the domestication, of the guinea pig (C. porcellus), a rodent and herbivore, where it has maintained a close relationship with the pre-Inca people, either as a source of food, high in protein and low in fat or as an animal associated with traditions that continue to this day. C. porcellus is considered a reservoir for the bacteria. The union of factors such as unsanitary conditions, deficient structures and lack of control in guinea pig farms, mostly rural, and the presence in this habitat of other synanthropic rodents such as Rattus ratus and Rattus norvicus, facilitated the closure of the zoonotic cycle of the disease and the spread of the etiological entity. Government entities, institutions, NGOs and organized communities in Peru and Ecuador have made efforts to transform a deficient culture of management, sanitation and correct development of guinea pig farms through the implementation of educational programs that replace empirical knowledge. The integration of formal and informal education, the empowerment of the citizen and the recognition of the States is what has allowed the non-reactivation of a pest outbreak in the border areas of Peru and Ecuador despite the conditions and determinants of zoonotic cycles of the Y. pestis still persist; concluding that "Education is the key".