LA Woman Hospitalized With Bubonic Plague

ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | Apr 18 9:15 PM US/Eastern | ALICIA CHANG

[berilhertz]

A woman was hospitalized earlier this month with bubonic plague, the first confirmed human case in Los Angeles County in more than two decades, health officials said Tuesday.

The woman, who was not identified, was admitted April 13 with a fever, swollen lymph nodes and other symptoms. A blood test confirmed she had contracted the bacterial disease. The woman was placed on antibiotics and is in stable condition, officials said.

[RandallFlagg]

I found this interesting at the end of the article:

"The plague is considered a bioterrorism agent and state law requires that doctors report suspected cases to local health departments."

Does that mean we can charge all the treehuggers in Boulder, Colorado with aiding and abedding for their protecting plague-infested prarie dogs from shootin'?

[COBOL2Java]

I had the same thoughts about whether this woman was an illegal immigrant. Perhaps that's one reason why they're reluctant to release her name - a latina perhaps?

[Borax Queen]

Thank you for the ping!! I have my box ready right here :) And your story is fascinating, whoa.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Just in case nobody mentioned it:

The plague is endemic to California's rodent population.

The California Agricultural Extension Service out of UCB used to (and may still, for all I know) print a leaflet about how to protect yourself from the plague by rodent control methods.

This case is just a case of someone or someone's pets picking up the wrong fleas and getting unlucky.

[buck61]

More important, she traveled from where?

[garyhope]

And Ronnie Reagan liked it too.

[garyhope]

But where she is from is also important since it's proven that certain groups of immigrants have higher rates of diseases endemic to their place of origin.

[nina0113]

What the CDC web article doesn't mention is how the plague got to America in the first place - Chinese railroad workers brought it over in the 19th century. The yersinia pestis infected fleas spread to the native rodents and created a reservoir in the American Southwest. There are two other reservoirs of plague on Earth; one in Africa, one in Asia.

I got that information from the CDC years ago when I wrote them after seeing a filler article in a newspaper. I had had no idea that bubonic plague had come to America at all. They were kind enough to send me a large package of printed documents.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Bush's Fault?

Sorry.....

[Knitting A Conundrum]

All you got to do in Cali to get exposed to the plague is to be too close to a chipmunk.

Check out this pdf about plague in California. You will see that huge parts of the state have rodent populations that carry plague. Many of these areas are near and include big cities.

http://sagehen.ucnrs.org/Documents/visitors/vectors/plague.pdf

n the southwestern United States, rock squirrel fleas are the most common source of infection in people. In the Pacific states, California ground squirrel fleas are the most common source. Many other types of rodents -- including other ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, wood rats, wild mice, and voles -- suffer plague outbreaks and are occasional sources of human infection. Domesticates can be infected by fleas or by eating infected wild rodents and can be a direct source of infection to people. Dogs rarely suffer severe illness and have yet to be shown to be sources of infection for humans.

[CholeraJoe]

Relax everyone! Plague is endemic among the rodent population in S. California. The fleas that carry it sometimes bite humans.

[hedgetrimmer]

While HIV/AIDS plays a factor in tuberculosis deaths the problem is that the immigrant and illegal immigrant populations are not screened, and they are bringing the untreatable tuberculosis from their home countries.

[hedgetrimmer]

Bubonic plague is endemic in California.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Bubonic plague is so endemic that the state puts out publications telling people how to protect themselves and their pets from the fleas which cause it.

[hedgetrimmer]

Yes indeed.

[bioprof]

Thanks to those of you posting cogent responses here. The western part of the country ( yes - that DOES include California ) has about a dozen or so cases of bubonic plague every yesr - no biggie.

By the way, that HOUSE episode last night scientifically stank to high heaven. Usually they're pretty good and dig up innovative stuff & mostly get it right.....but last night was horrible science!!!!

[rabidralph]

Last night's episode of "House" had a lady with The Plague. Weird.

[Tokra]

And if you need rat glue traps, get the Victor ones at Orchard Supply....

I'll never use one of those glue traps again. I put them out for a mouse problem and found one the next day with a mouse foot attached. The mouse had chewed off it's foot to escape. Yuck.

So then, not only did I have a mouse in the house - I had a amputee mouse in the house.

[RouxStir]

Not likely that the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, was a result of illegals bringing it in unless the illegals brought all of their pet rats, mice and rodents, along with their pet fleas...the fleas probably drowned crossing the Rio Grande or had heat strokes in the "coyotes" trucks.

The bacteria has been present in the rodent population. It just doesn't show up very often because of better hygiene, antibiotics and effective pesticides.

Not that there aren't many other pathogens that can and are being transported across the borders.

[CholeraJoe]

The western part of the country ( yes - that DOES include California ) has about a dozen or so cases of bubonic plague every yesr - no biggie.

Not quite that many, thank goodness. According to the CDC, there was 1 case in 2003 and 2 in 2002. 2004 and 2005 data was not accesible on the CDC's website.