Plague, a reemerging disease in Madagascar

Human cases of plague, which had virtually disappeared in Madagascar after the 1930s, reappeared in 1990 with more than 200 confirmed or presumptive cases reported each year since. In the port of Mahajanga, plague has been reintroduced, and epidemics occur every year. In Antananarivo, the capital, the number of new cases has increased, and many rodents are infected with Yersinia pestis. Despite surveillance for the sensitivity of Y. pestis and fleas to drugs and insecticides and control measures to prevent the spread of sporadic cases, the elimination of plague has been difficult because the host and reservoir of the bacillus, Rattus rattus, is both a domestic and a sylvatic rat.