The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Yersinia Pestis The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Yersinia Pestis
Showing posts with label Yersinia Pestis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yersinia Pestis. Show all posts

Friday, May 1, 2015

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Four Colorado Residents Have Been Infected by a Dog Spread the Pneumonic Plague


A plague-infected dog spread the dangerous disease to four Colorado residents, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials told ABC News that this is the first report of a dog infecting a human with the plague in the U.S.

The dog, a 2-year-old American pit bull terrier, became sick last summer with a fever and jaw rigidity, among other symptoms. The dog's health declined so quickly that it was euthanized the following day at a local vet's office, health officials said.

Four days later, the dog's owner entered the hospital with a fever and a bloody cough that became worse over the next few hours, but an initial blood culture was misidentified, according to the CDC report.

As the patient's symptoms grew worse, the test was redone and he was found to have been infected with pneumonic plague, according to the CDC report. The remains of the dog were also tested and were found to be positive for the plague bacteria.

"Frankly one of the biggest surprises of this outbreak is the source," said John Douglas of Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, one of the study authors. "Primarily...dogs don’t get sick at all or they get a minor illness" after being infected with the plague.

Janine Runfola of the Tri-County Health Department in Colorado, lead author of the report, explained that cats are more likely to infect humans with the disease than dogs because they exhibit more symptoms.

"For pneumonic plague a more likely scenario would be you have a cat [play] with prairie dogs and infected fleas get on the cat," Runfola said. "The cat gets sick and sneezes and coughs on its owner."

The dog's owner remained hospitalized for 23 days as he recovered from the potentially deadly disease, the report said. In addition to the owner, a close contact of the owner and two veterinary employees who treated the dog or handled its body also became infected with the plague. All three were successfully treated with medication after exhibiting symptoms.

The plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can infect the body in different ways. For example, a flea bite can lead to infection of the glands, which is called bubonic plague -- notorious for the epidemics it spawned during the Middle Ages in Europe. Because this plague was spread from dog to owner through coughing, it developed into pneumonic plague, according to Douglas.

The plague is known to be endemic to prairie dogs in the American Southwest, which can then lead to isolated outbreaks of the disease in domestic animals or humans.

"Pneumonic plague is the worst form," said Douglas. "It’s the one that you least want to get. You get sick fast and the chances of getting a rocky or even fatal course" are increased.

The plague is incredibly rare in the U.S., with an estimated eight infections in the country reported every year. Douglas said pneumonic plague is even rarer and accounts for just 3 to 5 percent of plague cases.

Douglas said the case shows the importance of considering all the options when diagnosing a patient, even extremely rare options like the plague.
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Thursday, April 9, 2015

Prairie Dog Deaths at Picture Canyon in Arizona Alerted Officials to the Possibility of a Plague Outbreak


Fleas in Arizona have tested positive for the plague and could spread the deadly disease to humans, according to officials.

The plague, which famously killed millions of Europeans during the Black Death, is most commonly carried by fleas and rodents.

Prairie dog deaths at Picture Canyon in Arizona alerted officials to the possibility of an outbreak.

Parasitic insects from the preserve near a water treatment plant in Flagstaff were found to carry the illness.

Human cases have developed from close contact with cats who have preyed on infected vermin and residents in the Southwest have been warned about dangers of the disease while camping.

The Southwestern US is similar to the plains of Central Asia where plague began, Professor David Wagner of Northern Arizona University told the Arizona Daily Sun. 

Plague is still contracted by as many as 2,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization, though the vast majority of cases are in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar.

Prairie dogs are particularly susceptible to illness because they live in social burrows, and 90 per cent of the furry creatures' colony can eventually be wiped out if plague infects one member.

The disease's rodent host dies, when fleas will look for more blood to drink, including from people.

Insecticide has been sprayed in prairie dog burrows in Picture Canyon to halt the plague's spread. 


The discovery of the disease at Picture Canyon (pictured above) has prompted a warning from authorities about the dangers posed by dead rodents
Symptoms of pain in humans include fever, chills and muscle pain.

The plague, which killed millions of Europeans in the 1300s, causes pustules on the skin and is still contracted by 2,000 people a year (file photo)
At later stages it causes gangrene and a large amount of pustules, or buboes, on the skin. 
The incubation period could be up to seven days. 

Modern medications are effective in fighting the plague, also known by its bacterial name Yersinia pestis,  though it can be deadly if left untreated. 

The last plague epidemic in the United States was in Los Angeles between 1924 and 1925, according to the Centers for Disease Control. 


The vast majority of human plague cases reported in the US are in the arid climate of the Southwest, which scientists say is similar to the disease's homeland of Central Asia
Plague originally came to North America via rodents on steamships from Asia. 


The bacteria Yersinia pestis originally came to North America on steamship rodents from Asia, and the last outbreak was in Los Angeles in 1924


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