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CBS New York...Bubonic Plague in NYC???
CBS News NY- channel 2 | 11/6/02 | johnnyjumpstart

Posted on 11/06/2002 3:38:02 PM PST by johnnyjumpstart

As the CBS local News broadcast was signing off to go to the National news at 6:30 tonight ...they announced..."This just in....2 people in New York City hospital with symptoms of BUBONIC PLAUGE"! N0 detail yet.........


TOPICS: Breaking News
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To: johnnyjumpstart
Wife: "Darling, I am not sure I feel well enough to make the trip tp NYC."

Husband: "Dammit! We are taking this vacation even if it kills me!"

61 posted on 11/06/2002 3:54:10 PM PST by NautiNurse
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To: johnnyjumpstart
You can get anything in New York City.
62 posted on 11/06/2002 3:54:56 PM PST by martin_fierro
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To: johnnyjumpstart
Does the wind there blow "to" or "from" Chappaqua? Just curious, of course.
63 posted on 11/06/2002 3:55:28 PM PST by ErnBatavia
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To: johnnyjumpstart
Plague diagnosis

General info from CDC

64 posted on 11/06/2002 3:55:52 PM PST by Pistias
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To: martin_fierro
I hear the victims touched the toilet seats in Macys.
65 posted on 11/06/2002 3:57:55 PM PST by BikerNYC
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To: johnnyjumpstart
From The Merck Manual:

PLAGUE
(Bubonic Plague; Pestis; Black Death)
An acute, severe infection appearing most commonly in a bubonic or pneumonic form, caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis.

Etiology and Epidemiology
Yersinia pestis (formerly Pasteurella pestis) is a short bacillus that often shows bipolar staining (especially with Giemsa stain) and may resemble safety pins.

Plague occurs primarily in wild rodents (eg, rats, mice, squirrels, prairie dogs); it may be acute, subacute, or chronic, and urban (mainly murine) or sylvatic. Massive human epidemics have occurred (eg, the Black Death of the Middle Ages); more recently, plague has occurred sporadically or in limited outbreaks. In the USA, > 90% of human plague occurs in the southwestern states, especially New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Colorado. Bubonic plague is the most common form.

Plague is transmitted from rodent to humans by the bite of an infected flea vector. Human-to-human transmission occurs by inhaling droplet nuclei through the cough of patients with bubonic or septicemic plague who have pulmonary lesions (primary pneumonic plague). In endemic areas in the USA, a number of cases have been associated with household pets, especially cats. Transmission from cats can be by bite, or, if the cat has pneumonic plague, by inhalation of infected droplets.

Symptoms and Signs
In bubonic plague, the incubation period is usually 2 to 5 days but varies from a few hours to 12 days. Onset is abrupt and often associated with chills; the temperature rises to 39.5 to 41° C (103 to 106° F). The pulse may be rapid and thready; hypotension may occur. Enlarged lymph nodes (buboes) appear with or shortly before the fever. The femoral or inguinal lymph nodes are most commonly involved (50%), followed by axillary (22%), cervical (10%), or multiple (13%) nodes. Typically, the nodes are extremely tender and firm, surrounded by considerable edema; they may suppurate in the 2nd wk. The overlying skin is smooth and reddened but often not warm. A primary cutaneous lesion, varying from a small vesicle with slight local lymphangitis to an eschar, occasionally appears at the bite. The patient may be restless, delirious, confused, and uncoordinated. The liver and spleen may be palpable. The WBC count is usually 10,000 to 20,000/µL with a predominance of immature and mature neutrophils. The nodes may suppurate in the 2nd wk.

Primary pneumonic plague has a 2- to 3-day incubation period, followed by abrupt onset of high fever, chills, tachycardia, and headache, often severe. Cough, not prominent initially, develops within 20 to 24 h; sputum is mucoid at first, rapidly shows blood specks, and then becomes uniformly pink or bright red (resembling raspberry syrup) and foamy. Tachypnea and dyspnea are present, but pleurisy is not. Signs of consolidation are rare, and rales may be absent. Chest x-rays show a rapidly progressing pneumonia.

Septicemic plague usually occurs with the bubonic form as an acute, fulminant illness. Abdominal pain, presumably due to mesenteric lymphadenopathy, occurs in 40% of patients. Pharyngeal plague and plague meningitis are less common forms. Pestis minor, a benign form of bubonic plague, usually occurs only in endemic areas. Lymphadenitis, fever, headache, and prostration subside within a week.

Diagnosis and Prognosis
Diagnosis is based on recovery of the organism, which may be cultured from blood, sputum, or lymph node aspirate. Because surgical drainage may disseminate the organism, needle aspiration of a bubo is preferred. Y. pestis can grow on ordinary culture media or be isolated by animal (especially guinea pig) inoculation. Serologic tests include complement fixation, passive hemagglutination, and immunofluorescent staining of a node or tissue biopsy or secretions. Prior vaccination does not exclude plague in the differential diagnosis, since clinical illness may occur in vaccinated persons.

The mortality rate for untreated patients with bubonic plague is about 60%, with most deaths occurring from sepsis in 3 to 5 days. Most untreated patients with pneumonic plague die within 48 h of symptom onset. Septicemic plague may be fatal before bubonic or pulmonary manifestations predominate.

Prophylaxis and Treatment
Rodents should be controlled and repellents used to minimize fleabites. Although immunization with standard killed plague vaccine gives protection, vaccination is not indicated for most travelers to countries reporting cases of plague. Travelers should consider prophylaxis with tetracycline 500 mg po q 6 h during exposure periods.

Immediate treatment reduces mortality to < 5%. In septicemic or pneumonic plague, treatment must begin within 24 h with streptomycin 30 mg/kg/day IM in 4 divided doses q 6 h for 7 to 10 days. Many physicians give higher initial dosages, up to 0.5 g IM q 3 h for 48 h. Tetracycline 30 mg/kg IV or po in 4 divided doses is an alternative. Gentamicin is probably also effective, although no controlled clinical trials have been conducted. For plague meningitis, chloramphenicol should be given in a loading dose of 25 mg/kg IV, followed by 50 mg/kg/day in 4 divided doses IV or po. A multidrug-resistant strain has been reported from Madagascar.

Routine aseptic precautions are adequate for patients with bubonic plague. Those with primary or secondary pneumonic plague require strict (airborne agent) isolation. All pneumonic plague contacts should be under medical surveillance; their temperatures should be taken q 4 h for 6 days. If this is not possible, tetracycline 1 g/day po for 6 days can be given; however, this can produce drug-resistant strains.

66 posted on 11/06/2002 3:57:56 PM PST by Pharmboy
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To: Thinkin' Gal
"Isn't that spread by RATS?"

I was thinking the same thing!

67 posted on 11/06/2002 3:58:03 PM PST by Freedom2specul8
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To: manfromlamancha; Unknown Freeper
Yes, we still have plague out here in NM. Local fire departments hand out free flea powder every year.

When I landed here 22 years ago and heard abut this, I wondered WTF??? What planet is this???

68 posted on 11/06/2002 3:58:11 PM PST by Apple_Hills
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To: johnnyjumpstart
Maybe it's what's ailing.......

this guy............

69 posted on 11/06/2002 3:58:32 PM PST by EggsAckley
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To: Unknown Freeper
The state health department in Sante Fe, New Mexico, where the couple lives, tested rodents on their property this summer. Apparently many of those rodents tested positive for the Bubonic plague.

Let's see: Santa Fe is apparently the home of plague-infected rats - and D*mocrat Governor-elect Bill 'Sure-I-can-find-a-job-for-Monica' Richardson. Plague-infected rats...Bill Richardson...plague-infected rats...Bill Richardson...plague-infected rats...Bill Richardson...

There may be a connection...

;>)

70 posted on 11/06/2002 3:58:47 PM PST by Who is John Galt?
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To: comebacknewt
HIghly contagious. Esp. pneumonic variety as it transmits airborn.
71 posted on 11/06/2002 3:59:56 PM PST by Vic3O3
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To: montomike
" "Bring out yer dead.""

The rats did that big time for yesterday's election. Probably why there's so many fleas hopping about today.

72 posted on 11/06/2002 4:00:55 PM PST by spunkets
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To: johnnyjumpstart
We truly have re-entered the Dark Ages.
73 posted on 11/06/2002 4:01:46 PM PST by IronJack
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To: EggsAckley
We get plague in KS sometimes out west--prairie dogs are the vector for the fleas. But Plague is Plague--the Black Death--Scourge of Europe, etc.
74 posted on 11/06/2002 4:01:47 PM PST by Vic3O3
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To: cmsgop
Which is worse Numonic(sp) or Bubonic?

I'd say Numonic was the worse spelling.

75 posted on 11/06/2002 4:03:11 PM PST by Izzy Dunne
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To: Pharmboy
Exactly. I remember that ~half of the 5-10 cases of plague each year are from NM. Thanks for the extensive and accurate info.
76 posted on 11/06/2002 4:07:19 PM PST by Franking
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To: Billthedrill
The pneumonic form is very contagious, spread by coughing.

The nusery rhyme covers it all:

Ring around the rosey (Praying the Rosary)
Pocket full of posey (The pomander of aromatic herbs to ward off the bad air)
Ashes ashes (originally atchoo atchoo, the sneezing followed quickly by...)
We all fall down (dead)

Prayer and poseys were the best religion and science had to offer. They weren't enough.

BTW, Death followed the coughing episodes so quickly that there wasn't time to summon a Priest to perform the last rights. Only a Preist was allowed invoke God's blessing. The Pope changed this to allow a lay Christian to bless someone when they coughed so they wouldn't die without a final blessing...

77 posted on 11/06/2002 4:08:07 PM PST by null and void
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To: Hildy
The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black.

Kind of like Bill Clinton's nose.

78 posted on 11/06/2002 4:09:04 PM PST by My2Cents
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To: EggsAckley
Wow, that reminds me of the picture of the Heaven's Gate leader!!!
79 posted on 11/06/2002 4:09:27 PM PST by Aggie Mama
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To: Aggie Mama
Well, tiny tommy might be thinking LIKE the Heaven's Gate folks today. LOL!
80 posted on 11/06/2002 4:11:12 PM PST by EggsAckley
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