New case of bubonic plague in humans in the United States

WORLD.- Health authorities of Colorado confirmed this Tuesday a case of human contagion of bubonic plague in Pueblo County in the south of the state, the third case of this disease in 2024 following those detected in February in Oregon and in New Mexico in March.

According to the Pueblo County Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE), A resident was infected with the bacteria Yersinia pestiswhich causes this disease, without knowing the place or mode of infection.

The patient had been hospitalized last week and since then his condition improvedaccording to Trysten Garcia, a spokesman for PDPHE. On average, 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 regarding 30 confirmed deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

How is bubonic plague transmitted to humans?

Since bubonic plague (known as the plague) is endemic both in southern Colorado and in large areas of the western part of the country (Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon), It was not possible to determine how the infection occurred.although 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 prairie dogs) or through the coughing of such animals. In addition, humans can spread the virus to other humans by coughing.

PDPHE asked that pet owners not allow their pets to hunt rodents or walk through prairie dog colonies.

She also warned that flea collars are not necessarily effective once morest plague-infested fleas, so people were advised to avoid sleeping next to their pets.

Treatment of the disease

“Plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics but An infected person should be treated promptly for avoid complications serious injuries or death,” said Alicia Solís, director of PDPHE.

There is no vaccine once morest this disease, which can be fatal (as happened to the infected person in New Mexico) if not treated in time, since the bacteria that causes the 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 of bubonic plague

Symptoms may develop following an incubation period lasting between one day and one week, according to the WHO.

These symptoms include sudden fever and chills, severe headache, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting, and swollen lymph nodes called buboes, which give the most common form of the disease its name.

The bubonic plague or Black Death caused regarding 50 million deaths in Europe in the 14th century, with subsequent epidemics in China and India. Today, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Peru are the three countries with the highest incidence of endemic bubonic plague, according to the WHO.

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