关键词: 动物间鼠疫, 主要宿主, 相关性, 密度

Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between plague epidemics among animals and the density of their main hosts in natural plague foci. Methods An analysis was conducted on the surveillance data of plagues in Kangbao Pasture in Kangbao county, Hebei province, China, from 1968 to 2018. An epidemic unit of 5 years was defined as 1 to 2 years during a plague epidemic and 3 to 4 years prior to the plague epidemic. Comparisons were carried out for the difference between the average density of main host animals and the overall average density in each epidemic unit. Results The density of main host animals in three epidemic units were 1.37, 1.33, and 1.60 animals/hm², respectively, which were significantly higher than the average density (0.92 animal/hm²) in the three epidemic units. Conclusion The risk of plague epidemics among animals increases with the density of main host animals.

Key words: Plague among animals, Host animal, Correlation, Density