Plague-needs continuous surveillance system

Abstract

Plague was considered to be a re-emerging disease since 1990s. The number of plague cases showed rising trend, and outbreaks were reappearing in various countries of the world after decades of quiescence. Plague is a zoonotic disease primarily of rodents. Natural decline in plague incidence would not justify the conclusion that plague has disappeared from the area Plague is transmitted between rodent and mammals via fleas. Rodents are the carriers of viral, rickettsial, nematode and bacterial diseases and are responsible for the transmission of more than 35 communicable diseases including Hanta viruses. Despite major advances in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention, it has not been possible to eradicate plague. The lack of continuous baseline surveillance resulted in an undetected sudden increase of the disease incidence in an enzootic/ endemic plague foci of the world, and a sudden outbreak of human cases, what was then considered a re-emerge of the disease. Regular plague surveillance work enhanced the possibility of detecting and delimiting plague foci and helped in determining the necessity for plague control programme. It is not uncommon to observe the long years of quiescence in natural plague foci and the sudden appearance of human cases is always destabilizing for national or even international authorities.