On July 14, officials from the Jefferson County Public Health announced that they found the first case of bubonic plague in a squirrel. Just three days later, the first human case of bubonic plague was confirmed.
The first human cases of the plague came from Inner Mongolia when two brothers were hospitalized after eating infected marmot meat, or a large ground squirrel. Chinese authorities have kept the area under level three warning until the end of 2020.
On July 16, there was another case of bubonic plague when a 15-year-old boy died after eating marmot as well. This time, it occurred in western Mongolia in the province of Gobi-Altai.
Since 2005, there had been 21 cases of bubonic plague in Colorado. They have already found several rodents infected in the counties of Jefferson, Adams, and Broomfield.
Septicemic Plague
The resident was reported to come in contact with infect squirrels in the state's southwest region. Earlier this summer, she had the septicemic plague, one of three forms of infection caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis.
Septicemic plague is the second most severe yet most rare form of the bubonic plague characterized by symptoms of fever, abdominal pain, and bleeding. The fingers, toes, and nose usually turn black due to excessive internal bleeding and may even die.
Although the bubonic plague is quite serious and needs immediate medical attention, it is not easily contagious. The most common form of bubonic plague occurs with the severe swelling of the lymph nodes.
The officials reported that so far, no one else had been infected. Infected patients usually recover with proper antibiotic treatment immediately after the infection has been identified.
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No Pandemic of the Plague
'While we see most plague activity during the summer, the disease can be found in rodents year-round and [it] sometimes spills over into other wildlife species as well as domestic cats and dogs," shared Dr. Jenifer House, Colorado's public health veterinarian. 'Plague has been present in Colorado since at least the 1940s, and cases in wild rodents in Colorado are reported most years.
When the first squirrel case was reported, officials from Jefferson County told pet owners to take extra precautions as the fleas from an infected rodent may transfer to their cats or dogs. While the bacteria enter fleas, it doesn't harm the insect at all making it the perfect carrier of the deadly plague.
Authorities are also telling the public that these cases are no reason to panic and that normal precautions should be taken. They reported that the 'plague usually occurs somewhere in Colorado every year.' Dead squirrels are usually not individually tested but this one positive case occurred after someone saw more than a dozen dead squirrels in one area.
Michael Head from the University of Southampton, UK, said, 'We're not going to see a global outbreak or pandemic of the plague. That's not going to happen.'
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