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Arizona confirms plague death: What to know and how to stay safe
As per the hospital, the patient in Arizona failed to recover even after "appropriate initial management" and “attempts to provide life-saving resuscitation”.
A person in northern Arizona has died from pneumonic plague, local health officials informed on Friday, July 11. The patient, who is yet to be identified, hailed from Coconino County and was taken to the Flagstaff Medical Center Emergency Department with severe symptoms, with the death confirmed on the same day.
The rapid diagnostic testing revealed the presence of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague, NBC News reported.
Death in Arizona raises plague alert
The fatality occurred amid the recent die-off of prairie dogs in the Townsend-Winona area, which is situated northeast of Flagstaff. Health officials in Arizona have clarified that the death is unrelated to the prairie dog die-off, according to Newsweek.
In a statement, the hospital informed that the patient failed to recover even after "appropriate initial management" as well as "attempts to provide life-saving resuscitation".
The test results on Friday confirmed that the person died from pneumonic plague, which the Coconino County Health and Human Services said is a "severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium.”
Officials noted that this was the first death recorded in Coconino County since 2007, when a person had an interaction with a dead animal that remained infected with the disease.
Plague is rare among humans, while data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights that only seven human plague cases are reported on average every year.
What are the symptoms of plague?
Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic are considered three of the most common forms of plague.
As per the CDC, pneumonic plague develops after the bacteria spreads to the patient's lungs with "untreated bubonic or septicemic plague, or when a person inhales infectious droplets coughed out by another person or animal with pneumonic plague".
In this, infected individuals usually report high fever, headache, weakness along with pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain and cough. Being the most serious form of the disease, pneumonic plague remains the only form which can spread from one person to another.
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How to stay safe?
1. Reduce rodent habitat at your home, workplace, or other areas.
2. Always wear gloves while handling potentially infected animals.
3. Use repellent while doing activities like camping or hiking.
4. Keep fleas off your pets. This can be done through flea control products.
FAQs
What stopped the Black Death?
According to The Week, several theories suggest that it was the imposition of quarantine measures that effectively ensured the slowing down of the Black Death.
What causes plague disease?
It is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium.
How many people died from the plague?
Black Death, the pandemic that ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351, is estimated to have killed 25 million people, according to Britannica.
Did some people survive the Black plague?
Yes, there were several people who survived the bubonic plague.
