Health officials dropped a bombshell this week: someone in Deschutes County, a rural spot in Oregon, got hit with the plague, making it the state's first human case in over eight years. And get this: it seems like the person caught it from their pet cat, which had been showing symptoms, according to Deschutes County Health Services.
Here's the lowdown:
Plague usually comes from fleas that carry Yersinia pestis, the germ that causes the disease. Your pets can catch it too if they go after infected rodents or get bitten by an infected flea.
Then, they can pass it on to humans through their tissues or fluids, like when they cough or sneeze. Or, they might bring home fleas that end up biting us.
Cats are extra vulnerable to plague because their bodies struggle to clear the infection, and they're more likely to hunt rodents than other pets.
Now, dogs don't usually get plague as much. But back in 2014, Colorado saw four cases among people who were close to an infected pit bull terrier, including the dog's owner and two vet clinic workers.
Dr. Richard Fawcett, a health bigwig in Deschutes County, said the cat in this recent case was really sick and had a nasty abscess, showing a serious infection.
The person who got sick probably started off with bubonic plague, where their lymph nodes swell up, Fawcett explained. By the time they hit the hospital, the infection had gotten into their bloodstream. But don't worry, they responded well to antibiotics.
However, some doctors thought the patient started coughing while in the hospital. That might be a sign of pneumonic plague, which can spread among humans. But Fawcett isn't sure if it got that far.
As a precaution, doctors gave antibiotics to the patient's close contacts to stop any potential infections from turning into symptoms.
But Fawcett doesn't think we'll see more cases popping up.
Before this, Oregon's last plague case was in 2015. A teenage girl supposedly got it from a flea bite while out hunting, according to the state health department.
Where does plague usually show up in the U.S.?
On average, we see about seven cases a year, mostly in rural areas out West. The hotspots are usually in places like northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon, and western Nevada.
But David Wagner, a big shot at Northern Arizona University, said we still don't fully understand how plague sticks around in the environment out West.
He's also not sure why cases have shown up in central Oregon over the years. Apparently, fleas and rodents aren't a big problem there.
Plague tends to hang out in semi-arid forests and grasslands with lots of rodents around. The person who got sick in Deschutes County lives in a rural-suburban area, with open land nearby.
Deschutes County Health Services tells pet owners to keep their animals on a leash outside, use flea control, and take them to the vet if they seem sick after messing with rodents. They also say to avoid touching rodents and to skip feeding squirrels or chipmunks.
When can plague be deadly?
Most cases are bubonic, where the infection stays in your lymph nodes. Symptoms usually show up a few days after you get bitten or touch an infected animal. Swollen lymph nodes are the main sign, along with a sudden fever, nausea, weakness, chills, or muscle aches. Doctors test for it with a blood or tissue sample and treat it with antibiotics.
But if bubonic plague isn't treated early, it can get into your bloodstream and cause sepsis, which is serious. If it gets worse, it can turn into pneumonic plague, which is often deadly. You can catch it directly from infected droplets in the air.
Fawcett said these different types of plague can all happen at the same time, and it's not clear when it changes or becomes contagious among humans.
But he's pretty sure the risk in Deschutes County is low, as long as they keep an eye on close contacts.
So, don't panic. But maybe keep an eye on your pets, just in case.
Stay safe out there!
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