title: [Secular plague trend in Ceará State, Brazil].
abstract: After its introduction into the State of Ceará, Brazil, in 1900, the plague was established in seven ecological complexes: Chapada do Araripe and the Ibiapaba, Baturité, Machado, Matas, Pedra Branca, and Uruburetama mountains. These natural foci were monitored successively from 1935 to 2004 by the National Health Department, National Plague Service, National Department of Rural Endemics, Superintendency of Public Health Campaigns, National Health Foundation, and finally by the National Health Surveillance Secretariat. Data analysis on human cases during these 70 years allowing identifying different plague circulation patterns in the human population, alternating high incidence with silent periods and characterizing a chronological periodicity with unique epidemiological characteristics, besides concluding that plague should still be considered a potential threat, thus justifying the revitalization of surveillance measures by strengthening all levels in the Unified National Health System.
authors.affiliation: Secretaria Estadual da Saude do Ceara, Fortaleza, Brasil.
authors.forename: Antonia Ivoneida
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Aragão
authors.forename: Ricardo José Soares
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Pontes
authors.forename: Antônio Carlos Mendonça
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Seoane
authors.forename: Osmar José do
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Nascimento
authors.forename: Celso
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: Alzira Maria Paiva de
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Almeida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010930:Plague / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology*