During a plague outbreak in the Borborema Plateu focus (Paraíba), bacteriological and serological studies were carryed out in material from 452 patients (48 positives), 1,938 rodents and other small mammals (75 positives), 4,756 dogs (141 positives) and 2,047 cats (57 positives) obtained from 41 counties (out of which, 21 produced positive samples). Twenty Yersinia pestis strains isolated from material from 3 patients ans 17 rodents, displayed biochemical reactions, virulence factors, antibiotic susceptibility and animal experimental pathogenicity similar to those observed in strains previously isolated. According to our findings this recent plague outbreak did not exhibite different factors from those observed during prior outbreaks in other plague foci in the northeast of Brazil.
plague outbreak; Yersinia pestis; humans; rodents; domestic carnivors; bacteriology; serology