Monitoring of plague in Quangzhou city in 2009.

Objective To examine the composition and distribution of animal reservoir of plague in Quangzhou city,and to accumulate basic data for plague prevention and control. Methods Rodents were captured by cages and then identified. Flea index was determined and plague RPHA and IHA methods were used to test for the specific antibodies. Results 2 134 rodents were captured in 2009. Rattus norvegicus and Rattus flavipectus,accounting for 51.15% and 26.66% of the total species,were the major species. The overall density of rodents was 5.71%,in which 4.84% was for the coastal areas and 6.58% for the mountain areas. Total flea index of rodents and flea infection rate of rodents was 1.16 and 31.52%,respectively. The index of Xenopsylla cheopis was 1.06. The total free flea index was 0.008. The results of total flea index of rodents,flea infection rate of rodents,index of Xenopsylla cheopis and total free flea index obtained in the mountain areas was not significantly different from the coastal areas. F1 antibody was not detected by RPHA and IHA. Conclusion The major rodent species found in Quangzhou city is Rattus norvegicus. Xenopsylla cheopis is the dominant species of flea in these animals. Spreading of plague among rattus was not found.