Health Officials Probe Case of Plague in Human

(RepublicanView.org) – Health officials in Colorado have discovered a case of the plague. The Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment are investigating the positive Yersinia pestis results. The bacterium is found in fleas and on rodents and can be transmitted through flea bites or touching affected humans or animals. It can also travel in droplets dispersed through coughs and sneezes.

The plague is fatal in 30% to 60% of untreated cases and is characterized by symptoms including sudden fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle aches, severe headache, nausea, and vomiting.

The World Health Organization reports between 1,000 and 2,000 cases of plague worldwide every year. Timothy Brewer, M.D., a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA, said the disease first came to America around 120 years ago, carried by rats on cargo ships from Southeast Asia.

The bubonic plague – one of three types caused by Yersinia pestis – wiped out almost 50% of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages. One of the most significant events in the continent’s history, it began in 1346 and lasted for around 7 years, during which more than 50 million people perished.

The plague caused history-shaping economic, social, and political change in Europe, and the affected region stretched all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Its source remains disputed, but many experts trace it to Central Asia or China. It arrived in Europe on cargo ships and spread rapidly by traveling on rats commonly encountered in impoverished parts of the continent during that time.

The World Health Organization reports that bubonic plague remains the most common of its type and still transmits via contact with small animals. The countries most affected by the disease today are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.

Also derived from Yersinia pestis, the pneumonic plague attacks the lungs and can be fatal without treatment. It transmits primarily through droplets.