Bubonic Plague Outbreak

Bubonic plague killed zoo monkey, health officials say

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DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) -- A Denver Zoo monkey has died of bubonic plague, apparently after eating a squirrel stricken with the disease, Colorado health and zoo officials said Monday.

Could it be related to this thread that received little attention a few years back?

I thought this disease was extinct but, apparently not. The first thing that pops into my mind is will the treatment drugs Gentamicin & Doxycycline rise in price with this news? Should we keep an eye on the stock value of companies that import or manufacture these drugs?

More information can be found about this deadly disease.

Is this just a rare outbreak case or could this be a case of domestic terrorism? With all the warnings and reports of nuclear attacks on the United States, would the government spin this into a threat to homeland security?

[edit on 22-5-2007 by tyranny22]

I don't think Bubonic plague ever really went away. I was watching an episode of SurvivorMan just this weekend where he was surviving somewhere near the Mexican border and he commented several times that any rats or squirrels that he managed to catch and eat had to be handled with great care and charred for fear of catching the plague.

I started a thread about the plaque in Denver a week or two ago. Then, it was squirrels. Now it's moved to rabbits and the monkeys in the zoo.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
I started a thread about the plaque in Denver a week or two ago. Then, it was squirrels. Now it's moved to rabbits and the monkeys in the zoo.

Great coverage. I did an ATS search before I posted this, unfortunately it didn't bring up your thread. I guess this happens all the time.

The thing that bothers me is that cases are spreading. Squirrells I can understad, and even fleas spreading it to rabbits or other such wild creatures. But, when it's spread to animals in the zoo is when it starts to get wierd. Are these animals not cut off from domestic contact? Makes you wonder how the disease got tranfered without human interaction – and if indeed it was human interaction that spread the disease, why is there no cases of that person getting the plague?

Another reason I fear this outbreak is because I've always heard that diseases mutate to evolve and survive. Such as our immune systems are subject to various viruses and are constantly evolving to defeating those stronger viruses that arise. Wouldn't it make sense that this strain, now that it's reached one of our closest primates, could evolve into something that's much worse than what wiped out a third of the planet over 650 years ago?

Not to panic, this is really nothing unusual. Every year in California, at least several cases of plague are reported. The fact that a squirrel who was infected bit a monkey who then got it, is really nothing weird or unexplained either, it's just that a monkey was bitten, not a human. As far as I know, there's no epidemic of plague starting up.

In the UK we have 'Plague Pits' where the dead from different plagues were buried. In London especially when any new building work is planned checks have to be made to enure the plague pits arent touched.

Bubonic plauge has never gone away, most of these disease have not. They have just become managable for a time, and that time is passing.

www.guardian.co.uk...

Drug-resistant form of plague identified


· Strain can now resist eight major antibiotics
· Discovery raises fears of devastating pandemics

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Saturday March 24 2007
As well as the two forms of plague, bubonic and pneumonic, described in this report, there is a third. The septicaemic form occurs when infection spreads directly through the bloodstream

Oh it's not just one strain anymore. I had not been keeping up, looks like it's more than one strain that's drug resistant now. Member all the fun we had the last time.

It will be awhile before this becomes a problem again, but it's good to keep up on these things. I am missing out on all this great research.

A multiple drug-resistant form of the plague, one of the oldest and most lethal diseases in human history, has been identified by scientists, prompting fears of devastating future outbreaks that cannot be contained by antibiotics.

I don't think we have to worry about it for awhile, but who ever likes to see cute monkies at zoo's dying from the plauge?

reply to post by tyranny22


squirells dying over here in masachusets an rhode island not squished laying on ground flat on there backs an finding them all over same way

Do not be afraid of plagues, do not leave your houses to run away.

reply to post by tyranny22


plauge never went away, theres still almost 1000 cases a year, most times its treated fast enough. and the who just classified it as remerging