Posted on 10/17/2005 2:30:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Jefferson County health officials have confirmed an outbreak of bubonic plague among prairie dog colonies at C-470 and West Quincy Avenue in the Green Mountain area.
There were no reports of human cases in the area, but precautions were advised.
Pet owners also were advised to avoid contact with any species of wild rodents, especially those appearing sick or dead.
The best way to prevent plague is to control the presence of rodents and fleas in and around the home, health officials said.
Dogs and cats should be confined so they cannot prey on infected rodents.
If precautions are taken, the probability of contracting plague is extremely low, health officials said. Jefferson County Environmental Health officials will continue to monitor the situation.
For further information, contact the department at 303-271-5755 or visit www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/info.htm.
God bless you.
Happens every year.
I prefer to keep prairie dogs about 100-400 yards away, less if there is a crosswind.
Pinger
Not too comforting. My understanding is the phrase God bless you originated during te big plague outbreak. When someone sneezed, it was a pretty sure sign they had it and were going to die.
The disease becomes evident 2–7 days after infection. Initial symptoms are chills, fever, headaches, and the formation of buboes. The buboes are formed by the infection of the lymph nodes, which swell and become prominent. If unchecked, the bacteria infects the bloodstream (septicemic plague), and can progress to the lungs (pneumonic plague).
In septicemic plague there is bleeding into the skin and other organs, which creates black patches on the skin, hence the name Black Death. Untreated septicemic plague is universally fatal, but early treatment with antibiotics (usually streptomycin or gentamicin) is effective, reducing the mortality rate to around 15% (USA 1980s). People who die from this form of plague often die on the same day symptoms first appear.
With pneumonic plague infecting lungs comes the possibility of person-to-person transmission through respiratory droplets. The incubation period for pneumonic plague is usually between two and four days, but can be as little as a few hours. The initial symptoms of headache, weakness, and coughing with hemoptysis are indistinguishable from other respiratory illnesses. Without diagnosis and treatment, the infection can be fatal in one to six days; mortality in untreated cases may be as high as 95%. The disease can be effectively treated with antibiotics.
Plague is common in rodents. Nearly every public campsite in CA has warnings about squirrels.
What your momma told ya about dead squirrels is good advice!
Ah, yes.... How could I have forgotten.
And don't forget that the famous nursery game had the same beginnings: Ring a ring o' rosies, a pocket full of posies, A-kerchoo A-kerchoo, we all fall down.
I talked to one of the senior guys at Virginia's IDHS (Institute for Defense and Homeland Security) about a month ago and he told me it was showing up with considerable frequency in Virginia. It's something that has caught their attention.
Why I have a 22-250 with a 4x10. Lotta' fun and a good tune up for White Tail season.
Ring around the rosie.
Pockets full of posies.
Achew, achew, all fall down.
Geez... A guy a couple miles from me came down with it last week. He's already out of the hospital. We had a huge rodent (sodpoodles and furry lizards) increase due to a wet winter.
Claim: The nursery rhyme 'Ring Around the Rosie' is a coded reference to the Black Plague.
Status: False.
http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm
I always thought it was "ashes, ashes, all fall down."
One can trace the shift in emphasis in Christianity from Christ's joyous Sermon on the Mount persona, to the dying, tortured persona, hanging from the Cross to the Black Death of the 14th century.
I must have hung around with retarded kids. Ours went:
Ring on down the roadie,
A pocket fullof rockets,
A$$holes, A$$holes,
Shoot them all down
Ain't western modern medicine great.
Thank you PETA jackasses for making the prarie dog a protected species in Boulder.
The family of the first fatality from plague should sue the crap out of PETA, and those who supported them.
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