Colorado Resident Contracted Pneumonic Plague [following His Dog]

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Colorado resident contracted pneumonic plague [following his dog]

A Colorado resident has been diagnosed with an extremely dangerous pneumonic form of plague. This is the first laboratory-confirmed case of plague in Colorado in ten years. The man fell ill shortly after the sudden death of his dog. Posthumous testing revealed pneumonic plague in the animal. Fleas are a specific carrier of the pathogen.

Plague stick (Yersinia pestis) at 200x magnification. Image from the site wikimedia.org /

A Colorado resident has been diagnosed with an extremely dangerous pneumonic form of plague, reports Reuters, citing the State Department of Public Health and the Environment. This is the first laboratory-confirmed case of plague in Colorado in ten years.

A man living in eastern Colorado fell ill shortly after the sudden death of his dog. Posthumous testing revealed pneumonic plague in the animal. Fleas are a specific carrier of the pathogen.

Pneumonic plague (plague pneumonia) is the most life-threatening form of the disease with an extremely rapid course. From the moment the pulmonary form of the disease develops, it becomes possible to transmit the infection from person to person with sputum released when coughing.

In Colorado, along with other states of the western United States - New Mexico, Arizona and California - there are natural foci of plague. Since 1957, Colorado has reported 60 cases of pneumonic plague in humans, nine of which have been fatal.