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Pathogens
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An Ancient Terror, Yersinia pestis: What's New?
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An Ancient Terror, Yersinia pestis: What's New?

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Bacterial Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 4819

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ronan Jambou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Global Health Department, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France
Interests: pathogen circulation in biotopes; Yersinia pestis; plague
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For centuries, plague has been regarded with biblical terror—"the black Death"—afflicting humans since the Neolithic Age. Much active focus remains on this area, even though the number of human cases is low. In our modern world where boats can rapidly and easily transport rodents and fleas, the dissemination of plague is still a concern. Moreover, climate change can also modify the global distribution of the three fundamental determinants of plague: fleas, rodents and Y. pestis. Yersinia pestis is a complex and interesting pathogen with an ecological life circle that sharply adapts to the vector, rodents, and the environment. The last ten years have brought new insight into the understanding of this pathogen; several phylogroups have been described, and genomes from ancient strains have been fully sequenced. Thus, the role of plasminogen activators in rodent invasion has come to be understood.

In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought new insight into disease dissemination, it is time to identify what we know and what remains uncertain about plague. This Special Issue of Pathogens aims to highlight and address scientific knowledge in this area. Original research papers as well as reviews proposing overviews of this "Ancient terror" are welcome. 

Dr. Ronan Jambou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pathogens is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Yersinia pestis
  • plague
  • Yersinia
  • rodent
  • genomes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1483 KiB  
Article
Impact of Sanitation on Rodent Pullulation and Plague Status in an Informal Settlement on the Outskirts of Mahajanga (Madagascar)
by Soanandrasana Rahelinirina, Zara Nomentsoa Razafiarimanga, Minoarisoa Rajerison, Medard Djedanem, Pascal Handschumacher and Ronan Jambou
Pathogens 2024, 13(11), 918; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13110918 - 22 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1460
Abstract
Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, and it is endemic in Madagascar. The plague cycle involves wild and commensal rodents and their fleas; humans are an accidental host. Madagascar is the country where plague burden is the highest. Plague [...] Read more.
Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, and it is endemic in Madagascar. The plague cycle involves wild and commensal rodents and their fleas; humans are an accidental host. Madagascar is the country where plague burden is the highest. Plague re-emerged in Mahajanga, the western coast of Madagascar, in the 1990s and infected populations in the popular and insalubrious zones. Sanitation is considered a primary barrier to infection by excluding pathogens from the environment and reservoirs. Poor housing and hygiene and proximity to rodents and fleas in everyday life are major and unchanged risk factors of plague. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of sanitation on Yersinia pestis bacteria in human and small mammal reservoirs and flea vectors. This study was conducted on 282 households within 14 neighborhoods. Two sessions of sampling were conducted in 2013 and 2016. Small mammals were trapped inside and around houses using live traps. Fleas, blood and spleen were sampled to detect Y. pestis infection and antibodies and determine the level of plague circulation before and after the installation of sanitation in order to assess the impact of sanitation improvement on inhabitant health. Two major types of housing can be described, i.e., formal and informal (traditional), scattered in all the suburbs. Among the small mammals captured, 48.5% were Suncus murinus, and 70% of houses were infested. After sanitation, only 30% of houses remained infested, and most of them were located around the market. Fleas were mostly Xenopsylla cheopis. Before and after intervention, the overall prevalence of fleas was the same (index 4.5) across the 14 suburbs. However, the number of houses with fleas drastically decreased, and the flea index increased significantly in rodent-infested houses. Rodent abundance also decreased from 17.4% to 6.1% before and after intervention, respectively. A serology study highlights that plague is still circulating in Mahajanga, suggesting that small mammals maintain enzootic plague transmission in the city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue An Ancient Terror, Yersinia pestis: What's New?)
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14 pages, 3549 KiB  
Article
Genomic Analysis of Yersinia pestis Strains from Brazil: Search for Virulence Factors and Association with Epidemiological Data
by João Luiz de Lemos Padilha Pitta, Matheus Filgueira Bezerra, Diego Leandro Reis da Silva Fernandes, Tessa de Block, Ane de Souza Novaes, Alzira Maria Paiva de Almeida and Antonio Mauro Rezende
Pathogens 2023, 12(8), 991; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12080991 - 28 Jul 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2730
Abstract
Yersinia pestis, the etiological agent of the plague, is considered a genetically homogeneous species. Brazil is currently in a period of epidemiological silence but plague antibodies are still detected in sentinel animals, suggesting disease activity in the sylvatic cycle. The present study [...] Read more.
Yersinia pestis, the etiological agent of the plague, is considered a genetically homogeneous species. Brazil is currently in a period of epidemiological silence but plague antibodies are still detected in sentinel animals, suggesting disease activity in the sylvatic cycle. The present study deployed an in silico approach to analyze virulence factors among 407 Brazilian genomes of Y. pestis belonging to the Fiocruz Collection (1966–1997). The pangenome analysis associated several known virulence factors of Y. pestis in clades according to the presence or absence of genes. Four main strain clades (C, E, G, and H) exhibited the absence of various virulence genes. Notably, clade G displayed the highest number of absent genes, while clade E showed a significant absence of genes related to the T6SS secretion system and clade H predominantly demonstrated the absence of plasmid-related genes. These results suggest attenuation of virulence in these strains over time. The cgMLST analysis associated genomic and epidemiological data highlighting evolutionary patterns related to the isolation years and outbreaks of Y. pestis in Brazil. Thus, the results contribute to the understanding of the genetic diversity and virulence within Y. pestis and the potential for utilizing genomic data in epidemiological investigations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue An Ancient Terror, Yersinia pestis: What's New?)
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