A human case of plague has been verified in Colorado, local officials declared on Tuesday.
Recent Plague Cases Highlight Ongoing Risk
While unique, such cases do happen. In March, a man in New Mexico passed from the plague, and in February, Oregon officials verified a case likely connected to a contaminated cat.
The Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment is recently inspecting the source of the contamination in Pueblo County dwellers. They suggested that anyone showing manifestations of the plague look for medical attention urgently.
The department described common plague manifestations as the sudden beginning of fever and chills, intense headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, and overall sickness. Swollen and painful lymph nodes are also regularly noticed.
They also mentioned that plague happens naturally and can contaminate both humans and their pets. Transmission occurs through bites from contaminated fleas, direct contact with or handling of contaminated animals, or breathing in beads from the cough of a contaminated person or animal.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the plague is caused by the germ Yersinia pestis. The CDC highlights that while the plague can be cured with antibiotics, immediate management is important to avoid intense diseases or demise.
The CDC remarks that plague is prominent for causing millions of demises in Europe during the Middle Ages but is now a unique yet continuous disease in provincial parts of the western United States and certain localities of Africa and Asia.
The CDC records an average of seven plague cases per year in the U.S., with about 500 cases documented between 1970 and 2022. In answer to the current case, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment offered these suggestions:
- Remove rodent hiding and breeding spots around the home, garage, shed, or recreation area by eliminating brush, rock piles, trash, and lumber.
- Prevent contact with dead animals.
- Use insect repellent with 20% to 30% DEET to avoid flea bites and apply it to pants, socks, shoe tops, arms, and legs.
- Do not let pets sleep in bed with you.
- Frequently treat dogs and cats for fleas, as flea collars have not proven efficient.
- Avoid pets from chasing or roaming in rodent areas like prairie dog territories and store pet food in rodent-proof containers.
Understanding the Plague: Symptoms and Treatment
The bubonic plague, the most typical form, increased among rodents like prairie dogs and rats. It can advance to septicemic plague, which increases throughout the body, and pneumonic plague, which contaminates the lungs.
Manifestations include achingly swollen lymph nodes, high fever, chills, headaches, and abdominal, leg, and arm aches.
The plague is transferred through bites from contaminated fleas, contact with contaminated bodily fluids, or breathing in beads from a patient with pneumonic plague. In the U.S., most cases happen in rural areas of northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada. Universally, it is most typical in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.
Early medication with antibiotics can treat the plague, making immediate medical attention important. Precautionary measures include keeping areas clear of debris, curing pets for fleas, and using DEET bug spray outdoors.
The World Health Organization suggests the plague vaccine is only for high-risk people like laboratory and healthcare workers.
There is no available vaccine in the U.S. More study is necessary as recent vaccines are primarily safeguarded against bubonic plague and have restricted efficiency against pneumonic plague.
Developing a vaccine trial is difficult due to the disease's uncommonness and treatability with antibiotics.
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