Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27234457›Full record

ReviewEcoHealth2016

Evaluation of Yersinia pestis Transmission Pathways for Sylvatic Plague in Prairie Dog Populations in the Western U.S.

Katherine L D Richgels, Robin E Russell, Gebbiena M Bron, Tonie E Rocke

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in EcoHealth, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. A Novel, Broad-Spectrum, Virulent Bacteriophage TargetingPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Exploring and Mitigating Plague for One Health Purposes.Current tropical medicine reports · 2022
    Article
  5. Oral Sylvatic Plague Vaccine Does Not Adequately Protect Prairie Dogs (Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · 2021
    Article
  6. Review
  7. Plague vaccines: new developments in an ongoing search.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2021
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Katherine L D RichgelsUnited States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006, Schroeder Rd, Madison, WI, USA.
Robin E RussellUnited States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006, Schroeder Rd, Madison, WI, USA.
Gebbiena M BronUnited States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006, Schroeder Rd, Madison, WI, USA.
Tonie E RockeUnited States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, 6006, Schroeder Rd, Madison, WI, USA. trocke@usgs.gov.
National Wildlife Health Center · USUnited States Geological Survey · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is periodically responsible for large die-offs in rodent populations that can spillover and cause human mortalities. In the western US, prairie dog populations experience nearly 100% mortality during plague outbreaks, suggesting that multiple transmission pathways combine to amplify plague dynamics. Several alternate pathways in addition to flea vectors have been proposed, such as transmission via direct contact with bodily fluids or inhalation of infectious droplets, consumption of carcasses, and environmental sources of plague bacteria, such as contaminated soil. However, evidence supporting the ability of these proposed alternate pathways to trigger large-scale epizootics remains elusive. Here we present a short review of potential plague transmission pathways and use an ordinary differential equation model to assess the contribution of each pathway to resulting plague dynamics in black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) and their fleas (Oropsylla hirsuta). Using our model, we found little evidence to suggest that soil contamination was capable of producing plague epizootics in prairie dogs. However, in the absence of flea transmission, direct transmission, i.e., contact with bodily fluids or inhalation of infectious droplets, could produce enzootic dynamics, and transmission via contact with or consumption of carcasses could produce epizootics. This suggests that these pathways warrant further investigation.

Indexed as

SciuridaeAnimalsPlagueRodent DiseasesSiphonapteraYersinia pestisCynomysdisease ecologyepizootiologyfleapathogenvector-borne

Identifiers

PMID27234457
OpenAlexW2399275486

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.