[Discovery of a new focus of zoonotic plague in the eastern Azarbaidjan region of Iran].

The surveillance of territories surrounding the plague focus of Kurdistan province in Iran, by inspection of wild rodent burrows, permit to reveal the existence of an epizootic in a new focus located in the Eastern Azarbaidjan province, where plague was never reported. 14 strains of Y. pestis were isolated from Meriones vinogradovi, M. persicus Mesocricetus brandti and from the fleas: Xenopsylla conformis and Nosopsylla iranus iranus. The eventual relationship between these two areas separated by about 200 km was investigated: neither attempts to isolate Y. pestis nor serological surveys permit to reveal any sign of plague enzootic in the zone between the Kurdistan focus and the new described focus of the Eastern Azarbaidjan.