Ebola, Enterovirus, Now The Plague?

[ANTI-IKON]

Compilation of recent news about the plague: 

It’s been a bad couple of months for humans. Ebola is raging in Africa and has made its way to the United States, and Enterovirus D-68 has sickened children across the country, causing some deaths. Now comes word of the plague being found in fleas in Arizona. “Fleas collected near Flagstaff have tested positive for the plague, according to officials with the Coconino County Public Health Services District,†reports ABC 15 in Flagstaff.

 

The plague is not uncommon to the area, but it is transferable to humans through bites from infected animals, including fleas.

Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria that occur in bubonic plague. However, while bubonic plague is usually transmitted by bites from rat-borne fleas and can be treated with antibiotics, pneumonic plague can be inhaled and transmitted between humans without involvement of animals or fleas. If untreated, it has a very high fatality rate, and can kill within 24 hours.

 

30,000 People In Quarantine After Bubonic Plague Kills One in ChinaOfficials in China are taking dramatic precautions to ensure the disease doesn't spread

Parts of the Chinese city of Yumen have been sealed off, and more than 30,000 people have been confined to their neighborhoods or placed in quarantine. The reason for the strict measures? A 38-year old man from that city died of bubonic plague last week. 

City officials say that they have enough rice, flour, and oil to supply all 30,000 residents for up to a month, but reports haven’t yet mentioned how long this situation might last.

The victim contracted the plague after being in contact with a marmot, a large rodent that he’d reportedly chopped up to feed to his dog. Less than 24 hours later he developed a fever, and on July 16 he died in a hospital.

The plague also occurs in the United States, typically in western states. It’s rare, and the last urban plague outbreak in the United States happened in Los Angeles from 1924-1925. Since the 1990s most plague cases have occurred in Africa, typically in small communities or agricultural areas. A plague outbreak in Madagascar last year killed at least 39 people. 

It’s not surprising that the Chinese government is taking extraordinary precautions. In the 1300s the Black Death (likely the bubonic plague) spread from China across the world, killing huge numbers of people, including an estimated 60 percent of Europe’s population. Another epidemic in the 1800s, which also began in China, killed an estimated 10 million people worldwide. 

Such a huge outbreak is, in the modern day, extremely unlikely. For the most par, the plague is treatable with antibiotics, though some drug-resistant strains have been identified.

 Most recent:

2 Squirrels On Palomar Mountain Test Positive For Plague

Two squirrels captured on Palomar Mountain for routine monitoring tested positive for plague, a common occurrence during the warm weather months, county officials said Tuesday.

The squirrels were trapped last week at the Doane Valley Campground, according to the county Department of Environmental Health.

"People need to remember not to feed or play with squirrels when you come across them outdoors," Liz Pozzebon, Department of Environmental Health director, said. "Don't play near squirrel burrows or set up your tents around them, and report dead squirrels to camp rangers."

Environmental health vector control crews posted warning signs and dusted squirrel burrows on the property to kill fleas that can transmit plague from squirrels and rodents to people.

Since it is not unusual to find plague in the region, the county's Vector Control Program routinely monitors flea populations at campgrounds and takes action to reduce flea numbers when the disease is found.

Plague is a bacterial disease that mainly affects wild rodents, but it can be spread to people when fleas feed on the blood of a sick animal and then bite humans, or when people such as hunters handle tissue or body fluids of infected animals.

People who contract plague can become very sick and even die unless they are treated quickly with antibiotics, according to the county. Symptoms include a sudden onset of fever, chills and tender swollen lymph nodes.

Bubonic Plague Found In Arizona

The disease responsible for the Black Death has hit Coconino County. Officials say fleas from dead prairie dogs in Flagstaff have tested positive for bubonic plague. 

County officials say if you're going to Flagstaff any time soon, don't feed wild animals or leave trash out.  Avoid ground squirrels and prairie-dog burrows, and don't allow pets in areas where they could be exposed to fleas. 

Plague is a bacterial disease that is fatal if not treated.  Symptoms include enlargement of lymph glands, quick onset of fever and severe chills.

 

[andromedaa]

not a coincidence..

 

damn...that pneumonic plague sounds worst than ebola. its inhaled and kills in 24 hours

 

god save us 

[miLoDy]

NO

[racquelle2005]

I'm never going outside again...

[jonmoulton]

There have been a few cases of plague in my state every year for decades.  It is caused by a bacterium (Yersenia pestis) and is treatable with antibiotics.