Return of the Black Death? Plague in Colorado: Second death in 2 months from flea-borne disease

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

A person has died of the plague in Colorado, less than two months after a 16-year-old was also killed by the disease. The individual is believed to have contracted the plague from fleas on a dead rodent or other animal.

The Pueblo City-County Health Department confirmed on Wednesday that the victim was an adult, but failed to provide further details.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family,” said Sylvia Proud, public health director of the Pueblo City-County Health Department, as quoted by local news outlet KRDO.

According to the department, the plague can spread through rodent populations in localized areas, which often ends in mass die-offs. This results in hungry infected fleas seeking other sources of blood, which increases the risk to humans and other animals.

The health department is currently investigating the situation, along with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

It comes less than two months after a 16-year-old passed away in Larimer County, Colorado after suffering from septicemic plague.

Medical professionals find it difficult to detect and diagnose the septicemic strain of the plague, as the victim’s glands do not swell.

The most common form of the plague is bubonic, during which patients usually show symptoms two to six days after coming into contact with the disease. Symptoms include fever, chills, weakness, and swollen glands.

The least common type is pneumatic, which involves pneumonia and is capable of spreading among people through coughing.

When caught in time, all types of the plague can be treated with antibiotics. However, the disease can be deadly if treatment is not administered right away.

Colorado residents have been advised to report any unusual die-offs of rabbits or prairie dogs to the health department, and to stay away from die-off areas.

Return of the Black Death?

Surviving One of the Great Killers

If there is one disease almost everyone has heard of, it is bubonic plague commonly known as “The Black Death”. It is infamous for killing over 1/3 of Europe’s population within less than a decade, leaving mass graves filled with tens of millions of bodies across the continent.

However while you might tend to consider it a disease of bygone days, in some areas of the country it is still possible to contract this dreaded illness. Since emergencies tend to spread disease, rodents and filth, it is not out of the realm of reasonable possibility that a sufficiently large disaster could bring about a resurgence of the fabled Black Death.

Disclaimer: I am no doctor, but if you suspect that you or someone else has contracted the plague seek immediate medical attention! Treating the plague requires antibiotics and intensive medical care, and it should never be taken lightly. This advice is my opinion, and is not definite nor the advice of an expert. Always seek professional medical advice for a disease, particularly ones this serious!

Where can it be found today?

Currently the rural areas of southwestern states like Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are the most likely places to find plague in the United States. Before you panic or demand that we wall those states off, plague has been present there since at least 1900, but only 999 cases have been reported since that time. For them, plague is just another disease found in nature, no different from hantavirus or rabies. The primary infectees are usually hunters or people who handle animals regularly, since most cases of plague begin spreading from infected fleas or from the blood and tissues of infected animals killed by hunters. Thus, most of the people in areas where plague is prominent simply take extra care to wear gloves and be vigilant in order to minimize the chance of contracting plague.

Is it really a concern if we haven’t had an outbreak for so long?

There are several primary factors that separate us from the poor people of Europe during the Middle Ages:

1. Antibiotics. Per the CDC, pre-antibiotic mortality rates for the plague were as high as 66%, but with prompt antibiotic treatment that drops down to 11%. Not only does lowered mortality decrease the spread of disease by itself, but the ability to treat it sooner lessens the chance that others can contract the plague.

   The effort to keep everything in a hospital sanitized can actually be a great help in minimizing the spread of plague…assuming hospitals are open.

2. Sanitation and isolation protocols. Depending on the severity and type of plague contracted, isolation may be warranted for the patient. Furthermore, the general cleanliness of most people just in day to day life (hot showers daily, washing hands constantly etc) combined with the heightened sanitation of hospitals makes it difficult for the rapid spread of infected fleas or liquids from the initial infectee.
3. Understanding about how plague is spread. We know that fleas spread the illness, as do other infected animals, so we’re less likely to go about slaughtering cats and permitting sudden increases in rat populations as the peasants of bygone eras did.
4. Generally improved health and nutrition. Yes, America is the home of tubby folk who spend their lives rolling from one McDonalds to another, but even so we have better access to healthy, varied diets than peasants in a village during the Medieval Period. As such our immune systems are more robust and we are physically more resilient than many of the sickly people of that previous era. Obviously we still have the sickly and the ill who would suffer from an outbreak of plague, but those are more likely to be genetic or the result of accidents as opposed to lack of nutrition.

Now think of a disaster where electricity and water are unavailable and hospitals are shut down or overwhelmed. Imagine people huddling in group shelters like the Katrina Superdome or some FEMA tent village. Despite the best efforts of health management officials, the spread of plague in that kind of environment would be much easier and quite rapid. Lacking sufficient antibiotic supplies, the dead would mount much like they did in previous outbreaks and the cycle of death and additional plague would begin.

How do you protect yourself?

In short, hygiene, sanitation and isolation. Mass congregations of people attract vermin and provide fleas with a never-ending bounty of food that causes their population to expand extremely rapidly. Unclean food and water sources combined with a lack of proper sanitation weaken immune systems and make people more likely to contact severe bouts of plague. Frankly, starvation conditions could also lead people to consume any animal they could find infected or not which would almost guarantee some initial infection.

If you were properly prepared for the potential of plague you would take care to consume only clean food and purified water sources. You would also avoid contact with other people outside of your small group, or take extreme efforts to ensure you are not infested by the fleas others carry. If you had antibiotics on hand you would want to administer them rapidly to anyone who might have contracted plague since the sooner it is caught the less care and fewer medicines needed for the eventual recovery. Proper hygiene would make you less susceptible to fleas overall, but really hygiene is more beneficial in keeping you clean if you come into contact with an infected animal or carcass.

Assuming you’re not near a primary infection area (a place where you can contract the disease from nature rather than from spreading via other humans) isolation and hygiene should be enough to reasonably minimize the risk of contracting the plague. The key is to remember that there is nothing special about the Black Plague in terms of the way it spreads or how it kills: it isn’t some bio-weapon or horrifying black magic. So long as you keep yourself removed from potential disease vectors including humans, infected animals, and fleas you will have made yourself much safer.

Cats actually make great outdoor prevention animals as well, since they tend to kill and drive off rats and mice before they can bring disease into your living spaces.  So long as the cat is kept firmly outside, you should have at least some separation should the poor animal fall ill.

The Black Death has a deservedly terrifying reputation, but in truth some proper preparation can do much to keep you safer from this terrible scourge. Stay isolated, stay clean, and you’ll do quite well.

21 Things For Pandemic Survival

Survival MD – Introduction To Survival MD