Second Yosemite tourist diagnosed with plague

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/second-yosemite-tourist-diagnosed-with-plague/ar-BBlR2m2

San Francisco Chronicle
By Kale Williams
1 hr ago

Second Yosemite tourist diagnosed with plague

photos at link
1 of 6 © Michael Macor, The Chronicle
A National Park Service investigator, (declined to give name) during his investigation of the accident site at the Upper Pines campground in Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Sat. August 15, 2015, a day after an oak tree branch fell on a tent with two children sleeping inside killing them.

recent visitor to Yosemite National Park has been diagnosed with what is believed to be the plague, state health officials said Tuesday, the second such case in as many months.

The patient, who was not identified, visited California from Georgia in early August, with stops in Yosemite and the Sierra National Forest, officials said. The person is being treated in Georgia.

A child from Los Angeles County who visited Yosemite was diagnosed with the plague in July, the first reported case of the disease in the state since 2006. The child is recovering, health officials said.

The plague is carried by squirrels, chipmunks, other small rodents and their fleas. More than 300 campsites at the Tuolumne Meadows campground in Yosemite were closed Monday after two squirrels died of plague in the area.

Despite the recent cases, officials said humans are at low risk for infection.

"Although the presence of plague has been confirmed in wild rodents over the past two weeks at Crane Flat and Tuolumne Meadows campgrounds in Yosemite, the risk to human health remains low," the state Department of Public Health said. "Action to protect human and wildlife health by closing and treating campgrounds was taken out of an abundance of caution."

The most recent patient was undergoing confirmatory tests performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State health authorities were working with officials at Yosemite and the U.S. Forest Service to try to narrow down where the person might have been infected.

Officials say people should never feed squirrels and other small rodents. Campers should avoid setting up near rodent burrows, and hikers should wear long pants and use bug repellent to keep fleas away.

Plague symptoms include fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin.

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 and now there's four...


http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/utah-man-dies-from-plague-in-4th-fatal-case-in-us-this-year/ar-BBmacVk

Associated Press
By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press
1 day ago

Utah man dies from plague in 4th fatal case in US this year

© AP Photo/Rick Bowmer This Aug. 6, 2015, photo, shows prairie dogs, in southern Utah. Utah health officials said Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, that a resident who died from the plague in August mostly likely contracted it from a prairie dog infected with...

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah man in his 70s has died after contracting the plague, bringing to four the number of deaths from the disease reported in the United States this year, health officials said Thursday.

Officials are still trying to determine how the Utah person contracted the disease, but believe it might have been spread by a flea or contact with a dead animal, according to the state Department of Health.

"That's the most common way to get it," said JoDee Baker, an epidemiologist with the agency. "That's probably what happened, but we're still doing an investigation into that."

Plague is a rare disease that is carried by rodents and spread by fleas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 11 other cases have been reported in six states since April 1. The other three people who died were ages 16, 52 and 79.

Anywhere between one and 17 cases of the illness have been reported each year in the U.S. since 2000, according to the CDC. Deaths are rare, with no more than two a year having been recorded over the past 15 years.

However, Dr. Paul Mead, a chief of epidemiology with the CDC's office in Fort Collins, Colorado, said four deaths so far this year is not necessarily a cause for alarm.

"Yes, it's twice as many, but when you're dealing with small numbers, you have that kind of variation," he said Thursday.

Patients in a few of the 11 other cases this year came down with the plague after visiting Yosemite National Park in California.

The last human case of plague in Utah was in 2009, but state Health Department spokeswoman Charla Haley said no deaths from plague have been recorded in the state in at least 35 years.

Haley said the latest patient got the disease in Utah, possibly after being in rural areas and near campgrounds. The person was hospitalized about five days after coming down with symptoms, and died in mid-August at the University of Utah's Hospital.

State health officials declined to release the patient's age, gender or hometown, saying the person's family wanted to keep those details private. However, Mead confirmed the Utah case involved a man in his 70s.

Health officials checked with family members who may have been exposed to the person, but Baker said the incubation period has passed and no family members or anyone else reported symptoms.

Plague is naturally occurring in Utah rodents and is often seen in prairie dog populations, the Department of Health said. Wildlife and health officials confirmed in July that an outbreak of bubonic plague killed 60 to 80 prairie dogs in an eastern Utah colony.

Annette Roug, a veterinarian with Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources, said Thursday state investigators found prairie dog burrows near the person's property but no sign that animals were still living there.

Roug said if wildlife officials find prairie dog burrows in the area, they may treat them with insecticide to kill fleas that carry the disease. She declined to say where the affected area is in Utah.

Human cases of plague often occur in areas where wild rodent populations are near campsites and homes. Transmission between people is rare.

Baker said anyone going to rural areas or campgrounds can protect themselves by wearing insect repellent; thoroughly cooking any wild game and sanitizing knives and preparation tools; wearing gloves when handling or skinning wild animals; and ensuring pets are wearing flea collars.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/michigan-resident-tests-positive-for-plague/ar-AAei71b?li=AAa0dzB
Reuters
3 hrs ago

Michigan resident tests positive for plague 

© CDC/PHANIE/Rex Shutterstock Medical Microscopy Yersinia pestis bacteria that had gathered on the proventricular spines of a Xenopsylla cheopis flea. The Y. pestis bacterium is the pathogen that causes bubonic plague, scanning electron...


A Michigan resident is recovering from the state's first ever confirmed case of bubonic plague, state health officials said on Monday.

The adult resident of Marquette County in the state's Upper Peninsula recently returned from a Colorado area with reported plague activity and there is no cause for concern about human-to-human contact, the state health department said.

It was the 14th human plague case reported nationally in 2015, more than four times the average of three cases annually of the rare and potentially life-threatening flea-borne illness, state health officials said.

An elderly Utah resident died from plague in August and two people have succumbed to the disease this year in Colorado.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the plague was introduced to the United States in 1900 by rat-infested steamships that had sailed from affected areas, mostly in Asia.

Early symptoms of plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin. (Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Eric Beech)

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/teenage-girl-in-oregon-hospitalized-with-bubonic-plague/ar-BBmBn8j?li=AAa0dzB
Reuters
2 hrs. ago

Teenage girl in Oregon hospitalized with bubonic plague

A teenage girl in Oregon has tested positive for bubonic plague, state health officials said on Thursday.

The girl was believed to have been infected by a flea bite during a hunting trip earlier this month, according to the Oregon Health Authority's Public Health Division and the Crook County Public Health Department.

The teen was in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Bend, in central Oregon, health officials said. Her condition was not known.

There were no other known infections in the state from the centuries-old scourge, health officials said.

"Many people think of the plague as a disease of the past, but it's still very much present in our environment, particularly among wildlife," said Emilio DeBess, Oregon state public health veterinarian in the Public Health Division.

"Fortunately, plague remains a rare disease, but people need to take appropriate precautions with wildlife and their pets to keep it that way," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the plague was introduced to the United States in 1900 by rat-infested steamships that had sailed from affected areas, mostly in Asia.

In recent years, less than 10 human plague cases have been reported in the U.S. each year, the agency said.

Early symptoms of plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Kavita Chandran)