ECOLOGY OF FLEA TRANSMITTED ZOONOTIC INFECTION IN VILLAGE MAMLA, DISTRICT BEED

Ecological observations were made in the village Mamla and the area ar ound it in Beed district to (i) gather evidence on ecological support system for natural harbourage of rodent species in domestic, peridomes tic and feral situations, and (ii) enumerate ecological factors and si tuations which may have triggered the 1994 outbreak. Prior to the Maha rashtra earthquake of 1993, the ecosystem of Mamla maintained equilibr ium densities of domestic rodent (Rattus rattus) and their fleas (Xeno psylla cheopis), This prevented fulminating epizootics among domestic rats, However, the impact of the September 1993 earthquake in Maharash tra introduced major changes in human ecology at Mamla village which g enerated unlimited energy inputs (such as foodgrains) for domestic rod ents, As a result, there was a gradual, but persistent, growth of R, r attus population in the subsequent 8-10 months quiescent period, In Au gust 1994, the R. rattus population overshot its equilibrium density l evel, which eventually led to a flea-mediated epizootic in rats and an outbreak of a cryptozootic, possibly plague, infection in humans in M amla.