LINK A Child In Idaho Has Contracted The First Local Case Of Bubonic Plague In Nearly 30 Years | IFLScience
Yep Bubonic plague (The Back Death) is now confirmed in Western United States. Looks like the Canadian and Mexican borders are holding on though.
This has a little scary factor to it though.
...A child in Elmore County, Idaho, is in recovery after the contracting an infection of the Yersinia pestis bacteria – a disease so infamous that it is simply called the plague; though you may know it from its other memorable title, the Black Death.
The announcement, issued by the state’s Central District Health Department (CDHD), marks the first confirmed case of plague in Idaho in 26 years.
Having evolved to live inside rodents, Yersinia pestis is primarily transmitted to new hosts – including us humans – via flea bites. Because rats and mice have been following traveling humans to new settlements and civilizations for thousands of years, it was difficult to pinpoint where the bacteria first arose until DNA sequencing came onto the scene. We now know that the microbe is native to the mountainous steppe region of central Asia, yet is currently circulating, at various levels, in rodent populations across the world....
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Scary, but I take it as something that likely happened because of the current fad of not getting vaccinations. We are leaving ourselves wide open for many diseases today because of this. It's like refusing to put air in your automobile tires. Eventually there is a problem.
DenoPenno
Level 9
June 23, 2018
2
not sure vaccination has something to do with this but getting early medical attention is important.
People in the US are not vaccinated against bubonic plague, so no, anti-vaxxers had nothing to do with this.
There is a resident population of infected rodents in the US. A few people get plague almost every year, especially in the Four Corners area.
GeorgeRocheleau
Level 8
June 21, 2018
2
Yes. We avoid those cute little rodent creatures, the prairie dog.
There is a lot of scientific discussion about it, but rats and their fleas are not the only ones that can spread the disease. Also lice and other small animals can be carrier and some forms of the pest (the very contagious lung pest) is even air born and is believed to be spread from human to human.
These kinds of diseases are the mayor concern of me coming to the USA. The insurance situation and the healthcare system prevents people from visiting the doctor when they don't feel well. The risk of epidemic diseases is huge and can even widely spread before the severity is discovered. It's all about the money.
Gert
Level 7
June 19, 2018
2
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