[An attempt to search for the correlations between the indices of plague infectivity in small mammals and fleas].

On the basis of faunal analysis of 1.2 mln fleas collected from about 300,000 individuals belonging to 30 species of small mammals were obtained average indices of abundance and similarity between faunas of ectoparasites of different animals in a number of autonomous plague nidi of the Aral sea area. Their comparison with published earlier average data on the infection of mammals with plague has revealed notable statistical connections between these indices in all nidi under study. Thus, has been shown a leading role of transmission of plague microbe by fleas in the maintenance of natural nidality of this zoonosis. At the same time a new confirmation of the multiple-host nature of Middle Asian natural nidus of plague has been obtained.