Publications

knowledge, attitudes and public health response towards plague in petauke, zambia.	in 2001, two plague outbreaks were reported in zambia, one of which occurred in petauke, eastern province, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. of the community respondents, 43.4% did not know the aetiology of plague. although rats and fleas were frequently mentioned, many respondents did not know how these were related to plague. local belief that the plague outbreak was the result of witchcraft was prevalent. use of rodenticides was not preferred as these were reports of they being used ...	2006	17034698
outbreak of plague in a high malaria endemic region - nyimba district, zambia, march-may 2015.	outbreaks of plague have been recognized in zambia since 1917 (1). on april 10, 2015, zambia's ministry of health was notified by the eastern provincial medical office of possible bubonic plague cases in nyimba district. eleven patients with acute fever and cervical lymphadenopathy had been evaluated at two rural health centers during march 28-april 9, 2015; three patients died. to confirm the outbreak and develop control measures, the zambia ministry of health's field epidemiology training prog ...	2016	27513350
molecular, serological and epidemiological observations after a suspected outbreak of plague in nyimba, eastern zambia.	plague is a re-emerging zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium yersinia pestis. the disease has caused periodic global devastation since the first outbreak in the 6th century. two months after a suspected plague outbreak in nyimba district, samples were collected from 94 livestock (goats and pigs), 25 rodents, 6 shrews and 33 fleas. enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) and polymerase chain reaction (pcr) techniques were used to investigate the presence of y. pestis, which showed that 16.0 ...	2017	27578859
serological and pcr investigation of yersinia pestis in potential reservoir hosts from a plague outbreak focus in zambia.	plague is a bacterial zoonotic disease, caused by yersinia pestis. rodents are the natural hosts with fleas as the vehicle of disease transmission. domestic and wild dogs and cats have also been identified as possible disease hosts. in zambia, plague outbreaks have been reported in the southern and eastern regions in the last 20 years. based on these observations, y. pestis could possibly be endemically present in the area.	2017	28754138
potential roles of pigs, small ruminants, rodents, and their flea vectors in plague epidemiology in sinda district, eastern zambia.	a cross-sectional study was conducted in the eastern part of zambia that previously reported a plague outbreak. the aim of the study was to evaluate the potential role of pigs, goats, and sheep as sero-surveillance hosts for monitoring plague, and to investigate the flea vectors and potential reservoir hosts to establish the current status of plague endemicity in the district. serum samples were collected from 96 rodents, 10 shrews, 245 domestic pigs, 232 goats, and 31 sheep, whereas 106 organs ...	2017	28399281
identification of risk factors associated with transmission of plague disease in eastern zambia.	plague is a fatal, primarily rodent-flea-borne zoonotic disease caused by yersinia pestis. the identification of risk factors of plague was investigated through questionnaire interview and conducting focus group discussion (fgd) in sinda and nyimba of eastern zambia. a total of 104 questionnaires were administered to individual respondents and 20 groups consisting of 181 discussants, which comprised fgd team in this study. the study revealed that trapping, transportation, and preparation of rode ...	2017	28722614