Posted on 08/29/2025 10:28:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona.
Infectious disease specialists noted that a handful of plague cases are diagnosed each year. The bacterium responsible, Yersinia pestis, is transmitted by fleas and cycles naturally among rodents.
At least three cases of the plague have been reported in the United States, with infections confirmed in New Mexico, California, and Arizona. (WKRC, file, Provided)
"If a person is around these rodents where the fleas are, the fleas can jump off the rodents, get on the person, and if they are carrying this bacteria Yersinia pestis, the human can get plague," said Dr. Stephen Blatt, Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at TriHealth in Ohio. "It might be as simple as camping in an outdoor forest where the fleas from the rodents surround you."
Dr. Blatt explained that the plague begins with high fevers and swollen lymph nodes at the site of the flea bite.
"In rare cases, it can get in your bloodstream and because what's called sepsis or septicemic plague and people can die from that, it's a very severe illness," he said. "It can also get into the lungs, which is how in years past the pneumonic plague would spread by coughing from person to person."
Swollen lymph nodes, historically referred to as "buboes," are characteristic of bubonic plague. However, antibiotics can cure the plague if diagnosed early.
"There's a blood test, we call a blood culture, and you can find that bacteria living in the blood of these people," said Dr. Blatt. "These people typically get bad really quickly and have low blood pressures and other signs of what we call sepsis."
The recent cases serve as a reminder to seek medical attention for any illness, particularly those that worsen suddenly.
Thanx brandon & mayorkys
Gotta have a handy bottle of permitherin when hunting. All of those critters are full of fleas and ticks. I don’t know how hunters can stand it.
“It might be as simple as camping in an outdoor forest…”
That’s exactly why I do all my camping in indoor forests!
Worldwide, the plague never really goes away. Luckily, those of us who served in Southeast Asia were fully vaccinated against it. That fact was a constant source of support and boosted my confidence level enormously.
The vaccine was especially foul-smelling and is something I won’t forget. I hated working with the stuff.
We use Sawyer’s (Permethrin) and DEET or something new that’s used in Europe that’s supposed to be safe for nylon and synthetics called Picaridin for the deer ticks here in NH. They’re bad around here and Lyme is a serious threat.
Picaridin vs DEET: Which Is the Best Insect Repellent?
(Appalachian Mountain Club)
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/outdoor-resources/picaridin-vs-deet-which-is-the-best-insect-repellent/
The adult ticks are easy enough to see and remove. I take the unattached ones off with a piece of scotch tape right on their back. They get stuck to it and lay there helplessly waving their little legs in the air while I heartlessly with full enjoyment, fold the tape over, seal it around the edges, and toss it in the trash.
For the ones attached, I pull them off and tape them up as well. I just deliberately put the pulled off tick on the tape. It is NOT going back outside to reproduce and spread more disease either.
the current - and former - plague vaccine ONLY lasts 6-12 months.
It is still recommended to get boosters every 6-12 months - at least annually - if working in high incidence plague areas.
I too had the series prior to going to SE asia (MIA-POW missions with 25th ID AVN BDE in ‘92 and ‘93 in Cambodia with layovers in Thailand as team physician). Worst reaction ever to a vaccine. I got deltoid muscle bursitis in my left shoulder and it lasted for weeks. Nasty stuff.
For the non-weaponized Y. pestis, your best bet is antibiotics (doxycycline usually).
Note here (CDC article) that a small percentage - 7% - of those vaccinated don’t produce antibody (same non-response is true of many other vaccines, there are always non-responders), some who don’t produce a protective level of antibody.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00041848.htm
Did Arizona and New Mexico elect Gavin Newsom to be governor as well?
All 3 States share a border with each other and......Mexico.
Coincidence? I don’t think so....
NM Governor ain’t much better
Do t just have to think about plague, but rat droppings, or mice, whatever, can contain hunta virus (sp?) Which can be deadly too. It has shown up in the north east too. Someone had an apartment in NYC, had mice, and ssept up the droppings and got it. Another was hiking and stayed overnight in a lean to that had doub.e walls where mice nested.
Had a couple of people who studied mice show up to a sportsman’s dinner, and they related how they do not study the mice without wearing hazmat suit.
You have to wonder if they are so cautious, what about trapping mice in a home and having to deal with them/discard them?
No, they elect their own socialist dipshits, but what has that got to do with a normal annual occurrence in the wild?
The US has a few cases of the plague every year.
Shame though that we gotta douse up and run ful, check whenever venturi g outside. Wish they’d hurry up with a tick vaccine- then no worries about attached ticks. (Provided the vaccine works, and hopefully protects against the other conditions/viruses caused by ticks)
Just think about how many more rats and deadly diseases we’d have right now in America if Harris had won. I mean this literally. We’d be plunging headfirst into third worldism faster than ever.
There used to be a Lyme Disease vaccine but I her they’re working on a new one. Don’t know why the other one was stopped.
Interesting.
FRegards
Well... That’s one way to get rid of all these Lefties... It’s not the nicest way... But whatever... If it works, it works.
Colorado has been Californicated, something they were warned about 50 years ago.
Now they are trying to take over NEW MEXICO.
These are not the same States my kin and I were born into decades ago.
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