An assessment of rodent-flea diversity and association in a semi-arid tropical ecosystem of south-western Zimbabwe

Abstract

The present study assessed the rodent-flea diversity and their association in Nkayi and Umzingwane districts, south-western Zimbabwe. Although both districts occur in the same agriculture region IV zone, they, however, differ in plague disease occurrence with Nkayi district being a plague disease endemic area whilst Umzingwane district is reported as not (Munyenyiwa et al., 2019). The information generated from the study will potentially assist

health personnel in surveillance and potential predictions for fu- ture possibilities of an outbreak or high-risk areas of plague disease.

Further, the study results could potentially be used to develop ro- dents and flea control programmes.