Posted on 02/12/2024 7:16:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
The first case of a deadly bubonic plague in eight years in the US state of Oregon is believed to have come from a cat. According to health officer Richard Fawcett, the patient got "very sick" after catching the disease from her pet.
The illness starts as something that seems like the flu with symptoms such as tiredness and a headache, but in this case, it led to an unusual abscess known as a "bubo". The good news is that antibiotics can successfully treat the bubonic plague if caught early enough.
The woman is now believed to be in recovery and early treatments have been given to those around her to stop any further spread. How the cat passed the infection to its owner has not been noted by officials yet. However, the cat may have carried fleas infected with the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, or the owner may have come into contact with contaminated fluids from her pet.
Bubonic plague warning
Y. pestis typically impacts small mammals and their fleas and can cause different forms of plague depending on how the person contracts it. The most common form is the bubonic plague, which impacts the lymphatic system and can lead to painful sores.
The infection can spread to the lungs, as seen in a patient in Oregon who started coughing while in hospital. This could indicate that their condition was worsening. The plague first arrived in the US in the early 20th century via rats on ships.
The last major city outbreak of the plague ended in 1925, but the bacteria found a home in rural rodents, causing occasional outbreaks outside of big cities. Today, most cases in the US occur in rural areas of the midwest and northwest, with an average of seven cases reported each year.
The last case in Oregon was in 2015 when a girl got infected during a hunting trip and ended up in intensive care. There have been no deaths from the plague in the state for many years. Outside of the US, the plague is found on every continent except Oceania. The disease regularly occurs in places with resident animal reservoirs and overlapping human populations, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.
During severe outbreaks, this disease can claim hundreds of lives. However, compared to the Black Death in Europe during the 15th century or the outbreak in China and India in the 19th century that killed millions, the bubonic plague isn't as deadly as it once was. Despite this, due to its notorious past, a single case in the US can still make headlines, even if the patient is successfully treated and the disease is prevented from spreading.
Millions of illegals crossing the borders couldn’t have caused this? Right...
I’ve never heard of illegals bringing it. It pops up here every once in a while - usually in the Southwest.
Prairie Dogs.
I’m glad I found out. I’m ordering my mail in ballot now. Is there a vaxx for this? Will my crate of masks work?
Correct, yersinia pestis is endemic in many western state populations of prairie dogs, ground suirrels, chipminks, mice and rats. Anything that hunts and eats these rodents may also become infected. The fleas that reside on them are also infected.
Every few years a human cintracts it as a result of bites or scratches from an infected flea or rodent.
Been here a long time.
Cat scratch fever
It’s not near the border, it’s in remote areas. And this goes back century or more.
When it did come, it came from China.
Depends on what is meant by “deadly”.
Bubonic plague is very much deadly as it ever was. It has to be treated.
I watch these medical shows. 1 poor kid nearly died because plague is so rare, doctors didn’t figure it out until late.
Rare stuff is dangerous, just because doctors won’t expect it.
“The disease regularly occurs in places with resident animal reservoirs and overlapping human populations, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.”
Sounds about right.
This. It’s not foreign to the US.
Cat....Bat.....here we go again
Plague came to America in 1900 on rats from steamships from China and spread to US rodent populations of the American West.
It particularly thrives in prarie dog and ground squirrel populations.
I always wonder why it doesn’t occur in Portland which is like freaking flea central. It seems to prefer rodents in dryer climates of the arid and semi arid parts of the west.
Yes, but I just read a news story about how the illegal criminal trash has been leaving their poor DOGS at the border to starve. Why on earth they would bring their faithful pooches to a foreign country and think they could bring them in is a level of stupid I have rarely encountered. But the point is, those dogs are surely carrying fleas and therefore could be a vector for U.S. kitties to have bubonic infected fleas. Just another reason to close the border, El Retardo.
It's been proven that human lice are plague carriers.
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