Health officers in Oregon have confirmed the state’s first case of bubonic plague since 2015.
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The person “was likely infected by their symptomatic pet cat,” Deschutes County officers mentioned in a press release issued final week.
The case was caught early and poses “little risk to the community,” officers mentioned. No extra circumstances have been reported.
“All close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and provided medication to prevent illness,” county well being officer Dr. Richard Fawcett mentioned Wednesday.
Plague is attributable to a micro organism present in small mammals and their fleas, based on the World Health Organization. Bubonic plague is the most typical type of the illness and will be unfold by the chew of an contaminated flea or contact with an contaminated animal.
In Central Oregon, squirrels and chipmunks most frequently carry the illness. However, well being officers mentioned that mice and different rodents also can carry plague.
Symptoms of sometimes seem two to eight days after a person is uncovered to an contaminated animal or flea. They embody fever, headache, chills, weak point and a number of swollen, painful lymph nodes known as buboes, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deschutes County well being officers mentioned that bubonic plague can grow to be septicemic plague, a bloodstream an infection, or pneumonic plague, a lung an infection, if it’s not recognized early. Both types “are more severe and difficult to treat.”
To stop the unfold of the plague, officers urged individuals to keep away from contact with rodents, together with these which can be sick, injured or useless. They advised holding pets on leashes whereas outside and utilizing flea management merchandise to scale back the chance that they get fleas.
Pet cats are significantly inclined to plague and ought to be discouraged from looking rodents, if doable, well being officers mentioned.
Plague was first launched to the U.S. by rat-infested steamships that sailed to the nation in 1900, based on the CDC. Most circumstances are reported in components of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon and Nevada.
A majority of circumstances — greater than 80% — contain the bubonic type of the plague. About seven new circumstances are reported annually, CDC numbers present.
