Volume 17, Number 5—May 2011
CME ACTIVITY
Lessons Learned about Pneumonic Plague Diagnosis from 2 Outbreaks, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Eric Bertherat
, Philippe Thullier, Jean Christophe Shako, Kathleen England, Mamadou-Lamine Koné, Lorraine Arntzen, Herbert Tomaso, Louis Koyange, Pierre Formenty, Florent Ekwanzala, Rosa Crestani, Isa Ciglenecki, and Lila Rahalison
, Philippe Thullier, Jean Christophe Shako, Kathleen England, Mamadou-Lamine Koné, Lorraine Arntzen, Herbert Tomaso, Louis Koyange, Pierre Formenty, Florent Ekwanzala, Rosa Crestani, Isa Ciglenecki, and Lila RahalisonTable
Laboratory results for 87 and 117 suspected cases of pneumonic plague during outbreaks in 2005 and 2006, respectively, Democratic Republic of Congo*
| Location, year | No. cases for which samples were collected from patients | No. positive samples/no. tested (% positive) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDT | Microscopy | Yersinia pestis isolation | DFA | PCR | IgG | ||
| Zobia, 2005† |
Acute, 44 | 17/35 (48.6) | 31/44 (70.4) | 0/44 | 6/43 (13.9) | 2/42 (4.8) | 7/18 (3.9) |
| Paired samples, 6 | 1/2 (50) | 1/2 (50) | NA | 0/2 | 0/2 | 6//12 (50.0) | |
| Convalescent, 37 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
NA |
12/37 (3.2) |
|
| Bole, 2006‡ | Acute, 98 | 23/96 (24.0) | 38/67 (56.7) | 4/96 (4.2) | NA | NA | 2/89 (2.2) |
| Convalescent, 19 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0/19 (0) | |
*RDT, rapid diagnostic test; DFA, direct fluorescent antibody test; PCR, real-time PCR; Ig, immunoglobulin; NA, not applicable.
†Of 130 cases identified, samples were collected from 87 patients.
‡Of 162 cases identified, samples were collected from 117 patients.
