Body Lice, Yersinia pestis Orientalis, and Black Death | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 5–May 2010

Volume 16, Number 5–May 2010
Letter
Body Lice, Yersinia pestis Orientalis, and Black Death
Saravanan Ayyadurai, Florent Sebbane, Didier Raoult, and Michel Drancourt
Author affiliations: Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France (S. Ayyadurai, D. Raoult, M. Drancourt); and Inserm 1019, Lille, France (F. Sebbane)

Suggested citation for this article

To the Editor: Wild rodent fleas are the most common vectors of Yersinia pestis, the plague agent (1). The human body louse (Pediculus humanus) has been proposed as a probable additional vector during historical epidemics (2) because human cases of louse-borne plague have been suspected (3) and body louse–borne plague has been demonstrated experimentally with rabbits (4). Using rabbits, we tested the ability of the 3 Y. pestis main biovars to produce a successful rabbit-louse-rabbit-louse cycle of transmission (4).

Two New Zealand White (Oryctolagus cuniculi) rabbits were inoculated intravenously with phosphate-buffered saline alone (negative controls) or phosphate-buffered saline containing 109 CFU of Y. pestis biotype Nairobi-Rattus Antiqua, biotype 14–47 Medievalis, or biotype 6/69M Orientalis. PCR ensured detection of the virulence factor–encoding plasmids. The rabbits inoculated with biotypes Antiqua, Medievalis, or Orientalis had septicemia of ≈2 × 103 CFU/mL of blood 14 hours postinoculation and died at 20–22 hours, 18–20 hours, or 16–18 hours postinoculation, respectively. In contrast, the negative control rabbits remained healthy for 3 weeks. Five minutes postinoculation, 150 uninfected lice fed for 1 hour on rabbits and took an equivalent blood meal as measured by weight, regardless of the rabbit used. Y. pestis was isolated from all 120 randomly tested lice and their feces. Five days postinfection, the death rate of Orientalis-fed lice (95.3%) was significantly higher than that of the control (4%), Antiqua-fed, (78.6%), and Medievalis-fed (74%) (p<0.0001) lice. One third of Orientalis-infected lice remained alive 3 days after the contaminating blood meal.

open here to see the full-text:
Body Lice, Yersinia pestis Orientalis, and Black Death | CDC EID

Suggested Citation for this Article
Ayyadurai S, Sebbane F, Raoult D, Drancourt M. Body lice, Yersinia pestis Orientalis, and Black Death [letter]. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 May [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/5/892.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1605.091280