title: [Diagnosis of Yersinia pestis].
abstract: There is no plaque case report in Taiwan since 1952. However, it is necessary to set up a laboratory system to investigate the distribution of Yersinia pestis in the natural environment to implement the public policy for preventing plague. Besides the traditional methods; e.g. culture, microscopic observation, biochemical characteristics, anti-F1 antigen detection by slide agglutination, immunofluorescence, and phage lytic assay, PCR was used as rapid screening test in our study. These laboratory methods were used to examine whether the flea samples harvested in King-Men island carry Y. pestis. The results showed that the flea index per mouse was high but no Y. pestis was detected in the fleas.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Preventive Medicine, Department of Health, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Horng
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D003470:Culture Media; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D051379:Mice; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000382:microbiology; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media