Man with Plague in Colorado in Stable Condition…For Now

Thought the plague sounds like something you’d never have to deal with in the 21st century United States? Guess again. Health officials are now reporting a rare airborne version of the plague in Colorado, reported The Seattle Times. It gets worse – this particular version of the plague can be spread easily through coughing and sneezing.

The man, still unidentified, likely breathed in the plague, resulting in its pneumonic form. This type is most commonly spread through flea bites. The man’s dog was infected with the plague and died unexpectedly. Days later, the man realized something was wrong. At this point, officials have only said that the man is in stable condition, without any other details of this case of plague in Colorado.

For those looking to avoid the plague in Colorado, symptoms to look out for are fever, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pains and a cough. Antibiotics need to be taken around 24 hours after infection to avoid mortal consequences. Other Western rural areas that have caught the plague in past include northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon and far western Nevada. The plague generally begins with fleas that leach on to rodents like prairie dogs. When the host dies, the fleas fly off in search of another host – occasionally landing on household pets and infiltrating your home.

But do citizens really need to be concerned about a plague in Colorado? Not likely, said Jennifer House, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

He’s on treatment long enough to not be transmissible… We don’t think it’s out in our air. We think it’s in our dead animal populations and dead rodent populations.

However, the Colorado health department also told Reuters that the plague does have the potential to cause death and is a serious matter. There have been 60 cases of the plague in Colorado total in the last 60 years, 9 of which resulted in the death of the infected person.

Although human cases occur infrequently, plague is severe and potentially life-threatening if not detected and quickly treated with common antibiotics.

As archaically odd as the plague in Colorado sounds, the plague still infects about 7 people a year in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. China, Peru and Madagascar have all had outbreaks of the disease within the past 10 years. Although the disease is treatable, outbreaks generally claim dozens of lives.