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Exploring and Mitigating Plague for One Health Purposes

  • Emerging Vector Borne Diseases in the U.S. (JK Peterson, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

In 2020, the Appropriations Committee for the U.S. House of Representatives directed the CDC to develop a national One Health framework to combat zoonotic diseases, including sylvatic plague, which is caused by the flea-borne bacterium Yersinia pestis. This review builds upon that multisectoral objective. We aim to increase awareness of Y. pestis and to highlight examples of plague mitigation for One Health purposes (i.e., to achieve optimal health outcomes for people, animals, plants, and their shared environment). We draw primarily upon examples from the USA, but also discuss research from Madagascar and Uganda where relevant, as Y. pestis has emerged as a zoonotic threat in those foci.

Recent Findings

Historically, the bulk of plague research has been directed at the disease in humans. This is not surprising, given that Y. pestis is a scourge of human history. Nevertheless, the ecology of Y. pestis is inextricably linked to other mammals and fleas under natural conditions. Accumulating evidence demonstrates Y. pestis is an unrelenting threat to multiple ecosystems, where the bacterium is capable of significantly reducing native species abundance and diversity while altering competitive and trophic relationships, food web connections, and nutrient cycles. In doing so, Y. pestis transforms ecosystems, causing “shifting baselines syndrome” in humans, where there is a gradual shift in the accepted norms for the condition of the natural environment. Eradication of Y. pestis in nature is difficult to impossible, but effective mitigation is achievable; we discuss flea vector control and One Health implications in this context.

Summary

There is an acute need to rapidly expand research on Y. pestis, across multiple host and flea species and varied ecosystems of the Western US and abroad, for human and environmental health purposes. The fate of many wildlife species hangs in the balance, and the implications for humans are profound in some regions. Collaborative multisectoral research is needed to define the scope of the problem in each epidemiological context and to identify, refine, and implement appropriate and effective mitigation practices.

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Acknowledgements

Many colleagues helped to shape this review. We wish to express a sincere gratitude to our colleagues for sharing their thoughts and for their efforts to better understand and manage plague for One Health purposes. We thank J. K. Peterson and J. Boulerice for the constructive reviews of the manuscript. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the California Department of Public Health, the California Health and Human Services Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This work was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIAID, NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Avenue Building C, Fort Collins, CO, 80526, USA

    David A. Eads & Dean E. Biggins

  2. Department of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Jeffrey Wimsatt

  3. Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Rebecca J. Eisen

  4. Laboratory of Bacteriology, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT, USA

    B. Joseph Hinnebusch

  5. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, Lewistown, MT, USA

    Marc R. Matchett

  6. Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Amanda R. Goldberg

  7. Prairie Wildlife Research, Stevens Point, WI, USA

    Travis M. Livieri

  8. Vector-Borne Disease Section, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Gregory M. Hacker & Mark G. Novak

  9. National Park Service Biological Resources Division and Office of Public Health, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Danielle E. Buttke

  10. Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Brule, SD, USA

    Shaun M. Grassel

  11. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center, Carr, CO, USA

    John P. Hughes

  12. Plague Unit, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda

    Linda A. Atiku

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  1. David A. Eads
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Eads, D.A., Biggins, D.E., Wimsatt, J. et al. Exploring and Mitigating Plague for One Health Purposes. Curr Trop Med Rep 9, 169–184 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-022-00265-6

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