Environmental variables supposed to be associated with the existence of natural foci of plague were collected.
To know whether Y. pseudotuberculosis would induce in the proximal lymph node lesions comparable to those observed in the plague bubo, DLNs collected on day 1, 2 and 3 from mice infected with comparable numbers (3,500 6,500 cfu) of either Y. pestis or Y. pseudotuberculosis were examined.
As in previous analyses, we use the long-term plague surveillance data collected in the PreBalkhash desert in Kazakhstan.
Our observation that body lice effectively transmitted Y. pestis through a complete cycle of transmission confirms previous experimental (4 ) and field observations of experimental transmission that used body lice collected from plague patients from the same family in the absence of any other ectoparasite (3 ).
Among 226 dogs serum samples collected from natural plague areas of Yersinia pestis in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, 49 were positive for F1 antibody, while the serum samples collected from plague free areas were all negative, suggested a potential public health risk following exposure to dogs.
A day later, Butler signed a statement saying he had actually accidentally destroyed the samples, and was charged with 15 counts of lying to investigators and illegally transporting his plague samples, which he had collected in Tanzania.
In this study, we detected Y. pestis in rodent fleas collected from September 2004 to May 2005 in the same area as those plague cases occurred.
Using suicide PCR (3 ), we therefore further investigated pPCP1 in 10 negative control dental pulp specimens and 60 specimens collected from 1 Justinian Orientalis plague site (2 ), 2 Black Death Orientalis sites, and 2 additional medieval plague sites.
Supplementary detailed information on clinical course, exposure, and treatment was collected and maintained for most plague patients beginning in 1956, continuing through the present time.
Detailed observations in south Morocco showed that body lice collected from blood culture negative bubonic plague patients were negative for Y. pestis, whereas body lice collected from septicemic patients were positive according to guinea pig inoculation results (2 ).
