Every Year, A Few Americans Still Get The Plague

Business Insider ^ | 07/11/2014 | LAUREN F FRIEDMAN

[SeekAndFind]

The recent news that a Colorado man was diagnosed with the plague may have left some wondering: Does that still happen here?

The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is yes.

While the last plague epidemic in the United States was back in 1924, when 37 people died in Los Angeles, the much-feared disease still surfaces in humans from time to time, though it's very infrequent — and fully treatable with antibiotics if it's caught in time.

"Plague... spread from urban rats to rural rodent species, and became entrenched in many areas of the western United States," the CDC explains. "Since that time, plague has occurred as scattered cases in rural areas."

Between 1900 and 2010, there were 999 "confirmed or probable" cases in the U.S. More than 80% of those were "bubonic," where the bacteria infects the lymph nodes. (The Colorado man had pneumonic plague, indicating that the infection was in the lungs — a deadlier form of the disease and the only way it can be spread from person-to-person without the help of fleas or rats.)

Here's a look at how many people have had the plague each year since 1970 (2012 is the most recent year shown):

CDC

[MeshugeMikey]

hmmmm the cases are predominantly....in....the "southwest"

Invader country??

[cripplecreek]

I remember seeing Les Stroud surviving in the southwest desert and avoiding touching a rodent he caught with his hands. He did eat it but he made sure to burn the hair off it and made sure it was fully cooked.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: hmmmm the cases are predominantly....in....the “southwest”

Invader country??

So, why aren’t we seeing a concentration in the South of Texas closest to the Mexican border?

[cripplecreek]

Critters in the southwest often carry the bacteria.

[Autonomous User]

Shouldn’t that One Lone dot hanging over Chicago shift to DC. The biggest rat moved from there to DC to spread his pestilence.

[Tijeras_Slim]

It’s been in New Mexico a long time. I pretty much live in the ground zero for plague here, and it’s not illegal alien related, it’s locals that contract it usually from their cats that find dead rodents.

[MeshugeMikey]

I would strongly suspect that would be due to the fact that the crossing points are not where the majority of the invaders settle in...

[cripplecreek]

Seems like they had a rash of Hanta virus deaths in the southwest some years back. I believe that was also a combination of rats and cats infecting people.

[MeshugeMikey]

Obie is his own special form of The PLAGUE

hes THE SCOURGE...whos course we really need to....alter

[TangoLimaSierra]

Seems like they had a rash of Hanta virus deaths in the southwest some years back. I believe that was also a combination of rats and cats infecting people.

That was from dried mouse crap dust, I believe.

[Gamecock]

I was stationed in Arizona in 2000. Seem to remember hearing a saying that when the rains come, Indians die. Referring to ample rain bringing an abundance of crops, which brings rats, which brings plague.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Hanta virus is present in mouse droppings, so if you clean out an old shed or barn and breathe in the dust you can get it.

[mountainlion]

Lyons Colorado gets Bubonic plague about every 7 years form their beloved Prairie Dogs and squirrels.

[CrazyIvan]

“Bring out your dead!”

[JimSEA]

That was from dried mouse crap dust, I believe.

That matches my memory as well. Victims were cleaning up after an infestation.

[Flick Lives]

[depenzz]

I bow hunted in the Gila Wilderness about 25 years ago and I remember the guide telling me that the plague was still a factor. He said the locals use to pick pi'non (?) nuts to sell and they would have a hard time telling when the nut was good or bad. Someone discovered that the rats could somehow determine if the nut was a good one so the locals were robbing the rats nests and after awhile the plague started showing up and they discovered this was part of the reason for it.