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.

[RushCrush]

So...simple antibiotics is all that is needed for treatment/cure?

[Jim_Curtis]

They still haven't found out her name? No ID on her?

[garyhope]

And she would be from where?......or had been traveling to where?.......

[Number57]

"the first confirmed human case in Los Angeles County"

[speedy]

At first I thought it might be Maxine Waters, but then the article said she was in stable condition.

[Daralundy]

related story

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617345/posts

[Fruitbat]

So...simple antibiotics is all that is needed for treatment/cure?

Apparently. Interesting, eh.

We always heard that salmanella was deadly. Well my 18 mo. old son got it a few years back and all they did was prescribe antibiotics. No biggie. It was nothing more than a prolonged stomach bug. I don't get the hype sometimes.

[Spirochete]

So...simple antibiotics is all that is needed for treatment/cure?

Tetracycline, streptomycin, or gentamicin.

[bubbleb]

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."

[conservative cat]

Is it just another example of an illegal spreading the diseases that Americans don't want to spread?

[MplsSteve]

Here's an interesting link from the CDC that you might like. It's a synopsis of what the plague is all about.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/info.htm

[berilhertz]

The article caught my interest because of a possible link to illegal immigration. People talk about the loss of jobs, the drain on social services, and the increase in crime that comes as a result of illegal immigration. I also have a concern about public health. Here in New England, we have seen a resurgance of tuberculosis, a disease that had pretty much disappeared. The reason for its reappearance - legal(?) and/or illegal immigrant who come to this country without the shots that innoculate them against these diseases. Other diseases, such as Chagas disease and leprosy (Brazil has a high incidence) also are surfacing in the U.S.

[jocon307]

"...simple antibiotics is all that is needed for "
treatment/cure?"

Not sure if the simplest ones will do it, but by the Grace of God it is readily treatable/curable today. Not like centuries ago.

SPOILER ALERT









This was also the plot on House tonight. (I hope that worked)

[bd476]

LA Woman Hospitalized With Bubonic Plague Apr 18 9:15 PM US/Eastern

By ALICIA CHANG
AP Science Writer

LOS ANGELES

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.

Bubonic plague is not contagious, but if left untreated it can morph into pneumonic plague, which can be spread from person to person. Bubonic plague is usually transmitted to humans from the bites of fleas infected by dead rodents.

Health officials suspect the woman was exposed to fleas in her central Los Angeles home, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's director of public health. The woman's family was also placed on antibiotics as a precaution, but there's no evidence they were infected.

The case is unusual because it occurred in an urban area, Fielding said. Most bubonic plague outbreaks happen in rural communities.

Health officials said there was no cause for panic because the disease is not easily transmissible.

"There's no cause for alarm in the community," Fielding said.

Health officials went to the woman's home Monday to trap squirrels and other wild animals. Blood samples from the animals will be sent to a lab to determine if any are infected.

An estimated 10 to 20 Americans contract plague each year, mostly in rural communities. About one in seven cases is fatal, according to federal statistics.

The last human cases of plague in Los Angeles County occurred in 1984 when three people contracted the disease. Two of those cases were travel-related and the third involved a person exposed to a sick animal. All three survived.

Bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe between 1346 and 1351. The last major urban outbreak in the U.S. occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25, when at least 30 people died.

In California, bubonic plague is prevalent among squirrels in the Angeles National Forest and other parks. Health officials regularly warn campers and hikers to take precaution against the disease by avoiding infected animals.

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

___

Los Angeles Department of Health Services: http://www.dhs.co.la.ca.us

[birbear]

From your site: Under Diagnosis -- "This finding, accompanied with fever, extreme exhaustion, and a history of possible exposure to rodents, rodent fleas, wild rabbits, or sick or dead carnivores should lead to suspicion of plague."

There's a joke about Democrats somewhere in there... I'm just too tired to figure it out.

[Jim_Curtis]

Health officials went to the woman's home Monday to trap squirrels and other wild animals. Blood samples from the animals will be sent to a lab to determine if any are infected.

I grew up in socal and never saw a squirrel or any rodent except as a pet. There was mention of rodents and fleas and there are plenty of fleas in so-cal but the rodents must have migrated.

[birbear]

In California, bubonic plague is prevalent among squirrels in the Angeles National Forest and other parks. Health officials regularly warn campers and hikers to take precaution against the disease by avoiding infected animals.

Is there anyway we can blame this on enviromental whackos?

[Number57]

[COEXERJ145]

I'm sure you're aware that this disease is naturally occurring in the Southwest part of the United States.

Of course that fact doesn't fit your agenda so I'm sure you conveniently forgot.