Colorado health officials have confirmed a human case of bubonic plague in Pueblo County in the south of the state, the third case of this disease in 2024 after the detected in February in Oregon and in New Mexico in March.
The patient was infected with the Yersinia pestis bacteria, which causes the disease, and the location and mode of infection are unknown, according to the Pueblo County Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE).
The patient was hospitalized this week and since then, his condition has improved, explained Trysten Garcia, spokesman for the Pdphe.
An average of only seven cases of bubonic plague are detected in the United States each year. The last outbreak in the country occurred in Los Angeles in the 1920s.with about 30 confirmed deaths, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Because bubonic plague is endemic in southern Colorado and across large parts of the western United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon), it is not clear how the disease spread, but the most common way is for an infected flea to jump from a rodent to a human.
However, according to the CDC, transmission can also occur if a person simply touches the skin of an infected animal (usually rats or dogs) or through the coughing of such animals. In addition, humans can infect other humans when coughing.
The Pdphe has asked pet owners not to let them hunt rodents. It has also warned that flea collars are not necessarily effective against plague-infested fleas, and people are advised to avoid sleeping next to their pets.
“Plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, but an infected person must be treated quickly to avoid serious complications or death,” said Alicia Solís, director of Pdphe.
There is no vaccine against this disease, which can be fatal. (as happened with the infected person in New Mexico) If not treated promptly, the bacteria that cause plague can infect the lungs (pneumonic plague) or the blood.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depending on the country and other factors, 30% to 60% of those infected with bubonic plague die.
Symptoms may develop after an incubation period lasting between one day and one week, the WHO said. These symptoms include sudden fever and chills, severe headache, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting, as well as swollen lymph nodes called buboes, which give the most common form of the disease its name.
The bubonic plague or black death caused about 50 million deaths in Europe in the 14th centurywith subsequent epidemics in China and India. Currently, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Peru are the three countries with the highest incidence of endemic bubonic plague, according to the WHO.
(With information from EFE)
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