An outbreak of plague in Hlegu, Burma in 1977.
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Date
1978-09-01
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Abstract
An outbreak of plague occurred in Hlegu Town, Burma in February and March 1977. Altogether 14 bubonic plague cases, with 2 deaths were reported, mostly children under 15 years of age. Twice as many males as females were affected. A retrospective investigation showed that a rat fall took place in the last week of January. Only 9.5% of the rodents which died in the epizootic were found to be infected with Y. pestis; this apparent low infection rate probably resulted from the inclusion in the survey of some dead rats which died of other causes. 14.5% out of 48 trapped rodents were found to be serologically positive. The general flea and cheopis indices were rather high, perhaps because fleas were found to be partially resistant to DDT and also because spraying of insecticide did not effect fleas on the hosts. The cheopis index in Hlegu Town was 1.17, and less than 0.5 in Hlegu suburb (Yankin-Yat) where no epizootic was reported. An active case search revealed 76 suspected plague cases out of which 11 were found to have bubonic plague. A field trial showed that plague vaccination during the outbreak did not result in a rise of detectable antibodies in persons inoculated.
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The Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health.
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Citation
Thaung U, Kyi KM, Maung Sein M, San Myint D, Sein Win U, Hein R, Khai Ming C. An outbreak of plague in Hlegu, Burma in 1977. The Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. 1978 Sep; 9(3): 390-7