Plague Deaths Reported in Colorado

Two deaths so far. Health officials are warning residents to protect themselves. This plague is caused by fleas on dead or alive rodents.

This was the first death, I think. It's a little confusing s the first death was the second incident: Plague Claims One Life in Colorado

It's the second such incident in the state this year

One adult has died in Colorado from the disease most commonly known as simply “the plague,” according to Pueblo City-County Health Department. Vastly more common in 14th century Eurasia, the plague is rarely found in the modern-day United States, though the Colorado incident is not the first time the disease has made an appearance in recent years.

The first death came in June — 16-year-old Taylor Gaes from Fort Collins, Colo., beloved for his quiet passion and wicked fastball. The second was announced Wednesday — an unidentified adult from the southern part of the state.

Both are thought to have died from septicemic plague, a rare and deadly form of the disease that slaughtered millions in the Middle Ages but is now mostly an isolated — if tragic — curiosity. A scant seven plague cases are reported in the U.S. each year, most of them easily treatable with antibiotics. These are the first deaths in Colorado in more than a decade, and in Gaes’s case at least, the disease was only deadly because doctors didn’t recognize it as plague.

The two deaths are both rarities, and neither case seems likely to spread to anyone else. [WaPo]

CDC on Plague

Between 1900 and 2012, 1006 confirmed or probable human plague cases occurred in the United States. Over 80% of United States plague cases have been the bubonic form. In recent decades, an average of seven human plague cases have been reported each year

WHO on Plague

The disease is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria and will incubate in a person between two to six days before they show symptoms. There are three kinds of plague: bubonic, which leads to swollen lymph nodes; septicemic, which leads to a blood infection; and pneumatic, which is when the bacteria settle in the blood and cause pneumonia.

Nevin-Woods explained that prairie dogs can become infected with fleas that carry the virus and, eventually, those fleas can spread the disease to other animals or even people in the area. [ABCNews]

Here's more...

A second person has died of the plague this summer in Colorado and health officials are warning residents to take steps to guard against contracting the bacterial disease as the weather creates an opportunity for more cases to develop.

Officials from the Pueblo City Council Health Department announced this week the unnamed patient died from to a suspected case of septicemic plague, which leads to a dangerous blood infection. About seven people are diagnosed with a form of the plague in the United States every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[Source]

From Jan (not sure if this year) and a bit odd: Plague Occurs in U.S., But Is Treatable

"It is possible, but difficult, to effectively weaponize Y. pestis," said John D. Clements, professor and chair of the program in molecular pathogenesis and immunology at the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

"The only effective way would be to aerosolize the organisms and this would be much more difficult than for anthrax," he added. "This is mostly due to the fact that, unlike Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia do not make spores. Keeping the organism suspended at a high enough concentration, at the right particle size and viable is problematic."

And this is from May says the dog infected its owner: Pit bull is patient zero in Colorado's cases of plaguePit bull is patient zero in Colorado's cases of plague

So four cases so far this summer, and two deaths. Be careful out there, guys.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I did t even know about this thanks

Testing perhaps ?

a reply to: MarryPass

Welcome. I actually read this news on the elevator today. Just hoping it doesn't get worse.

Wow , I would have thought that "they" would have had gotten rid of that or had a vaccine.
then I thought

Been following this. Sad to hear of more cases. Please be cautious all! Hopefully this isn't going to be an ongoing problem.

Quick Facts...
.(while)Flea problems on pets are uncommon in Colorado...
.Fleas reproduce poorly in the low humidity of homes.
.Most flea problems originate from fox or skunks that den in the vicinity of homes.
.Vacuuming the area around where pets rest and using insecticides and traps can help manage flea problems.
.Plague is a potentially life threatening disease that is moved among wild rodent populations by fleas—primarily the rock squirrel flea.

See for more, one source, on how to manage environments to pets that have or may have fleas.
Source

Also, if anyone needs tips on specific pets about how to deal with flea issues I will be happy to help out.

Regards

a reply to: EvilBat

From CNN in June: How do we still have the plague, centuries after the Black Death?

(CNN)The word "plague" brings to mind the great scourge of the Middle Ages that filled the streets and so-called plague pits with the bodies of its victims.

But as recent news reports remind us, we cannot entirely dispatch the plague to the annals of history. Yersinia pestis, the same type of bacterium that was responsible for the pandemic that wiped out 60% of the European population between the 14th and 17th centuries, maintains a foothold in the United States and around the globe in rodents and the fleas that live on them.

Goes on to say it is now way more treatable. Conditions in Colorado just happen to be right for it this year.

Our climate in CO has changed quite a bit over the past 7 years or so. I've lived here my whole life and we have certainly never had so much humidity and moisture.
My skin is thankful, my hair is NOT!

a reply to: ~Lucidity

They dug up the bodies and reconstructed the diseases that caused the most deadly of the pandemics.

Just in case.

www.npr.org...

www.decodedscience.com...

www.cdc.gov...

a reply to: ~Lucidity

text from your first article says this is the first time the disease has shown up in recent years.

then text from your second link, the cdc link says 7 people or so are diagnosed with it every year.
they also said 1,006 cases between 1990 ans 2012.

this is no big deal. there are still scattered cases every year.

besides, the plague is nowhere near as cool as rocky mountain spotted fever
(also spread via ticks and fleas)

Just an update...three deaths now.

Third Case Of Plague This Week, Now In LA: Here Is What You Should Know

It’s a busy plague season. This week, a California child tested positive for plague after a visit to Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park. In Colorado, a Boulder resident became ill, likely from contact with a dead chipmunk, and a Pueblo County resident died of plague. This brings this summer’s total to 6, with 3 fatal cases. Half of the cases occurred in Colorado, with the current case in Boulder being the first there in more than 20 years. The LA child is the first person to become ill in California with plague since 2006.

The plague is endemic, meaning there are natural reservoirs of it, in this country in our native critters and the fleas that snack on them.

Every year there are a few scattered cases in pets and their people somewhere in the US.

a reply to: ketsuko

Right, and as this seems to be a year where it's on the uptick...people in plague-prone areas should be careful. Avoid fleas and such and seek medical care if they don't.

Famine what are you up to?