The relationship between natural disasters and plague / 中华地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

“There are big epidemics after natural disasters”.After years of analysis of the relationship between natural disasters and plague in Yunnan Province,we found that plague occurred with high frequency during the flooding period,and rodent's density and flea index were higher in years of flooding than those of normal years.However,each disaster event such as flooding,drought or earthquakes was not necessarily connected with rodents density,index of fleas and plague prevalence.The density of host animals and the index of vector were mainly determined by climatic factors such as air temperature,rainfall (humidity) and so on.Natural disasters will damage the local living environment,which caused the aggregation of host animals and humans.Close contacts between host animals and humans will promote the risk of epidemic spreading in the active plague foci.