CDC reported of two more plague patients in New Mexico
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The Health Department in New Mexico released a disquieting report, which stated the discovery of two more cases of human plague reported in Santa Fe County. The disease is not deadly, but it shouldn’t be left untreated.
The latest victims of human plague are two women, one aged 52 and one 62. They add up to the first person diagnosed with the disease this year. He was a man in his 60s who received the diagnose some time earlier in June.
Three new plague patients in New Mexico
Fortunately, the cases reported so far have not been fatal. Even so, the patients had to be hospitalized to avoid any complications. Then, officials started investigations in their neighborhoods, to see where they got the disease from. Also, these investigations were meant to protect the safety of their family and friends.
Paul Ettestad, a public health veterinarian from New Mexico, explained where plague comes from. After an infected rodent dies, the fleas which lived as parasites on it leave its body and start roaming. Then, they might end up on our pets, which bring home the diseased fleas and they end up getting everybody sick.
Human plague is rare in the US
In the US, it happens quite rarely that humans should become infected with this infectious disease. CDC reports of around seven cases per year on average occurring in the entire country. Most cases are registered in northwestern Arizona, southern Colorado, and New Mexico. However, starting with 2015, CDC started reporting more plague cases among humans.
In 2015, there was a total of 16 plague cases, and four of them proved deadly. Four of these cases were recorded in New Mexico, together with one of the fatalities. In 2016, four other cases occurred in the state but, this time, there were no victims. Worldwide, statistics showed a number of 3,248 cases from 2010 to 2015, and most of them occurred in Africa.
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