The refuge has been closed to the public since Wednesday after two confirmed cases of
sylvatic plague -- a rare disease caused by a bacterium that can be transmitted to humans via mammals and their fleas -- were discovered in black-tailed prairie dogs on the refuge and in other nearby areas of Adams County.
The lack of smallpox vaccination has led to the steady accumulation of poxvirus-susceptible human hosts in the areas of West and Central Africa where humans routinely encounter
sylvatic animals, some of which may harbor monkeypox virus.
The role played by sympatric collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), white-lipped peccary (Tayassupecari), and feral pig (Sus scrofa) as maintenance hosts for Trypanosoma evansi and Trypanosoma cruzi in a
sylvatic area of Brazil.
However, those with
sylvatic cycles often infect people who invade their natural habitats (22).
A Mathematical Model for Chagas Disease Dynamics in the Gran Chaco with
Sylvatic Transmission and Vector Life Stages.
They concern the black-footed ferret, a feisty North American mustelid once all but wiped out by an infectious disease called
sylvatic plague.
In Africa, however, Aedes furcifer, Aedes taylori and Aedes vittatus have also been involved in the transmission of CHIKV.20 The virus has two discrete transmission cycles;
sylvatic cycle and urban cycle (Figure-2).
These tree-dwelling mosquitoes are also the vectors involved in the
sylvatic cycle of yellow fever virus, and although MAYV maintenance efficiency in primary reservoirs is not known, it has been detected in nature in several vertebrate hosts such as non-human primates, rodents, birds, sloths, and other small mammals.
The abundance of primate species in many countries, and of mosquitoes that have never been exposed to chikungunya, can create opportunities for the virus to establish
sylvatic cycles that to date have not been documented outside of Africa (6).
In Africa, ZV is transmitted in a
sylvatic, jungle cycle where the virus moves between wild nonhuman primates and arboreal mosquitoes such as A.