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Biomedical subjects

D McNeill

Publications and source records attributed to D McNeill.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A serological survey of rodent plague in Taiwan and offshore islands.

Serological surveys were made on individual sera of small animals trapped on Taiwan and offshore islands. The animals were shrews of the species Suncus murinus, and rats of the species Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus. The tests showed that on MaKung in the Peng-hu Islands (Pescadores), 66% of the shrews, 30% of the R. rattus and 15% of the R. norvegicus had passive haemagglutination titres with fraction 1 antigens in the range of 1:16 to 1:256, indicative of previous plague infections. These observations supplement recent findings in Viet-Nam and confirm that plague is endemic not only in rats but also is shrews in the coastal provinces of South China.

Animals↗

Results of a preliminary serological survey of small mammal populations for plague on the island of Hawaii.

Since 1910 the District of Hamakua, Island of Hawaii, has been considered an endemic plague area. To obtain indirect evidence of plague infection in rodents and in the mongoose, serological surveys of the small mammal populations were undertaken. The passive microhaemagglutination test demonstrated the presence of positive reactors (titres of 1:16 and higher) in the sera of 2641 rodents and 385 mongooses tested. Positive percentages were: Rattus exulans, 1.5%; R. norvegicus, 1.9%; R. rattus, 0.6%; Mus musculus, 1.1%; and Herpestes auropunctatus, 12.5%. This study has proved the continued presence of a permanent reservoir of plague in indigenous rodent and mongoose populations after a period of 65 years since the introduction of plague into Hawaii and has demonstrated that the mongoose is an excellent indicator of plague infection.

Animals↗