Officials confirm prairie dogs dying from plague

This is not about the bird flu, but about the plague hitting areas in Colorado.
If it belongs somewhere else please mods move it if necessary.

I am sure the news in Colorado are reporting this, but just in case some member in Colorado don't know about this I am posting it here.

The Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment says positive test results for plague came back on Wednesday from a flea specimen collected from a prairie dog die-off at the Westminster Hills Open Space. The area includes a dog park at 105th Avenue and Simms Street.

The area is currently closed to the public and plague warning signs have been posted in the area.

Health workers recommend everyone living in or visiting the area take precautions to protect themselves and their pets.

Officials say cats are more likely to contract plague - either from ingesting a rodent or being scratched or bitten by one. However, the disease is most commonly spread by fleas which have bitten plague-infected rodents.

Humans can also contract the plague from flea bites or from a cough or direct contact from an infected animal, officials say.

www.9news.com...

Anyone close to Jefferson county, or in Jefferson county and who knows more about this is more than welcomed to post what they know.

this....isnt news. not to me anyways

there have been cases of plague in prairie dogs since it was introduced to them to keep their numbers down.

there are usually several cases of plague in humans due to the prairie dogs yearly

I agree with the post above. There has been several cases of plauge in humans in modern times, no worries anywho, they can cure it anywho. Found out that something as simple as penisilin can cure it apparently.

Its summer again and the plague pops up in squirrels and other associated ground rodents.
Its nothing, and humans never catch it, for one reason the high temps.

When anbient temps are high plague is almost non transmissable to humans except under very limited conditions.
Plague originates in equatorial africa where it kills almost no one.
When the flea/bacterium are exposed to lower temperatures the flea under goes a transition that makes trasmission of the bacterium easier.
A blood clot forms in the gut of the flea, blocking its digestive tract from digesting the blood it feeds on.
In essence the flea eats but never feeds, and jumps from host to host biting and passing the bacterium try to feed, in the normal high temps the flea feeds once then dies, thereby limiting the the transmission.
The outbreaks of plague in europe and asia (middle of the 6th century and the 14th century) were during times of dramatic climate shifts towards being cooler.

there are always reports of squirrels and such having the palgue here every summer.

Its nothing


PS
plague was not introduced into prarie dogs to control them, it was a natural jump, just like in ground squirels here.

[edit on 16-7-2009 by punkinworks]

Animals like you mentioned, as well as other, small animals, mostly rodents based on their life style (why do I hear a law suit coming?), have a very high potential to carry illness. They live in what you have to call a commune, and most likely don't care who knows or cares if another gopher is infected with what ever (reminds me years ago of my older brother). But just being in close proximity is all it takes. Even though these animals don't have to get "up close and personal" to spread infection. All you need is a vector, in the case of plauge, all you need is the humble flea which among other things killed at least half of Europe several hundred years ago. Humble flea was aided by the not so humble rat and to a lessor extent mouse. Just for the record a "vector" is the causitive -agent-of-spread for plague, and other illness. The mosquito spreads maleria. You got it. Please excuse my patronizing attitude. But on two other web sites in the last mabey two hours, I had three people give me an electronic "blank stare" when I said vector in its biological and not mathamatical sense. In case I get to puffed up? Check out my spelling...

How do you keep plague at bay? To be blunt, keep the place clean, don't leave food, and worse waste around and if nothing else works shoot to kill. Just for the record, I think my state of Minnesota is the only one to have a rodent as the state animal. The Gopher. Why not the Eagle? We have a LOT of them by the Mississippi River. I have, a beautiful Eagle who lives in a large tree about a block from me.

I think he's subletting to a few squirrels. For the Eagle its got to be a win-win situation. I mean if they don't pay the rent, he can always eat the tenant's...

plague, rabbit fever, and junta virus are all common killers here in the south west, at least here in new mexico.

there are more cases of it this year due to abnormally high amounts of rainfall.

this is nothing new.

Here in the Western States the threat of Bubonic Plague (the Black Death) is constant and real. It is common for numerous animals, from Prairie Dogs, Squirrels, Deer, Rats, etc. to test positive for Bubonic Plague.

It's also not unusual for entire populations of these animals to be wiped out from the Bubonic Plague, just as it once wiped out the majority of Europeans.

To keep it from spreading to the human populace, Vector Control firebombs entire areas to destroy potential carriers. They seem to have to do this every 5-10 years when the Plague reaches a certain population threshold. It breaks my heart when they do it to the entire desert or an entire Wildlife Reserve. However, they do so to keep it from spreading to a larger animal population and to keep it from spreading to humans.

Originally posted by Animal
plague, rabbit fever, and junta virus are all common killers here in the south west, at least here in new mexico.

there are more cases of it this year due to abnormally high amounts of rainfall.

this is nothing new.

Very true, the US southwest has always been a hot bed for this. Plaugue has often been hard to diagnosis, at least where not endemic. Symptoms can be quite diverse, often cullminating in spitting up (coughing) blood, very rapid loss of weight (Both of which can be misread as TB), sometimes arthritic symptoms. When is doubt (1: isolate and (2: massive antibiotics, something I don't recommend for the most part for any one, unless you REALLY are sick. Keep in mind the fleas can hop off you and on someone else. Can you say dissenfectant shower?

Originally posted by arbiture

Originally posted by Animal
plague, rabbit fever, and junta virus are all common killers here in the south west, at least here in new mexico.

there are more cases of it this year due to abnormally high amounts of rainfall.

this is nothing new.

Plaugue has often been hard to diagnosis, at least where not endemic.

Yes, it can be hard to diagnose where it is not common. However it is very easy to test and in most cases, save for respiratory form, easy to treat.

It is good to see that at least some people know about this. However, there are many others that don't knw it. Hence the reason for me posting this.

Originally posted by ElectricUniverse
It is good to see that at least some people know about this. However, there are many others that don't knw it. Hence the reason for me posting this.

Ya, good to keep people up to date. My dog has had tularemia (rabbit fever) 3 times. She spends on average 3 days in doggie intensive care with fevers that have reached 108 degrees.

Tularemia is similar to the plague in that it is a deadly fever that is transmissible from animals to humans. So i have gotten plenty of lessons on plague / tularemia (they treat each case as if it is plague until the test results come back). From what I have herd people visit the south-west, contract the plague / tularemia and then return home to die in their local hospital as the illness is not properly diagnosed and treated.

Thanks for posting this.


[edit on 18-7-2009 by Animal]

reply to post by Animal


Hey no problem, and BTW, there is some bad news for your state New Mexico.

The City of Albuquerque's health department has confirmed the first case of human plague in Bernalillo County in 2009. The department says a 16-month-old girl is currently hospitalized and recovering. Her great-grandfather is also undergoing treatment for plague after displaying symptoms consistent with the disease. There have now been five confirmed cases of plague in the state this year - six if the great-grandfathers case is confirmed. Three have been in Santa Fe County, and one of those plague victims died. The fourth was in Sandoval County where the patient recovered. The department reports that the Bernalillo County case appears to have been contracted in the East Mountains area and the department is conducting an environmental investigation. Plague is a bacterial disease found in rodents in the wild. It can be transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected flea. Symptoms of plague include fever, chills, painful lymph nodes, headache, vomiting or diarrhea. )

hisz.rsoe.hu...

All those people claiming that there are no more human cases of plague in the U.S. are wrong, and people can still die from it, and unfortunately at least one person is dead from it in New Mexico.

One dead might not seem too much for some, but to me is one too many, more so when something like this can be avoided if you have enough information, and if it is treated on time.

I hope that little girl gets better, as well as anyone else having this disease.



[edit on 20-7-2009 by ElectricUniverse]