Exploring and Mitigating Plague for One Health Purposes

AbstractPurpose of ReviewIn 2020, the Appropriations Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives directed the CDC to develop a national One Health framework to combat zoonotic diseases, including sylvatic plague, which is caused by the flea-borne bacteriumYersinia pestis. This review builds upon that multisectoral objective. We aim to increase awareness ofY. pestis and to highlight examples of plague mitigation for One Health purposes (i.e., to achieve optimal health outcomes for people, animals, plants, and their shared environment). We draw primarily upon examples from the USA, but also discuss research from Madagascar and Uganda where relevant, asY. pestis has emerged as a zoonotic threat in those foci.Recent FindingsHistorically, the bulk of plague research has been directed at the disease in humans. This is not surprising, given thatY. pestis is a scourge of human history. Nevertheless, the ecology ofY. pestis is inextricably linked to other mammals and fleas under natural conditions. Accumulating evidence demonstratesY. pestis is an unrelenting threat to multiple ecosystems, where the bacterium is capable of significantly reducing native species abundance and diversity while altering competitive and trophic relationships, food web connections, and nutrient cycles. In doing so,Y. pestis transforms ecosystems, causing “shifting baselines syndrome” in humans, where there is a gradual shift in the accepted norms for the condition of the natural environment. Eradicat...
Source: Current Tropical Medicine Reports - Category: Tropical Medicine Source Type: research