State officials confirmed Monday, that a Michigan resident has contracted the bubonic plague.
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This year’s other cases, out of places like Colorado and in northern California’s Yosemite National Park, better fit the traditional pattern of plague cases.
The patient is from Marquette County and has come from Colorado where plague cases have been reported.
The Michigan resident has already received the proper treatment and is expected to recover.
Someone who has contracted the plague often becomes ill within one to seven days. The bacteria occur in nature among wild rodents and their fleas in rural and semi-rural areas of the western United States. However, the western U.S.is experiencing an increase in reported cases of plague in 2015, with 14 human cases, including four deaths reported. An average year sees three cases nationally. Health officials said they don’t know the reason for the increase at this point.
Human plague is a potentially fatal illness characterized by the sudden onset of fever and malaise, which can be accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. “Use insect repellent on your clothig and skin and make sure that any pets that may be along are receiving regular flea treatments”. The most serious form of the illness is pneumonic plague, which is contagious as a respiratory infection.
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Bubonic plague was once one of the most widespread and deadliest diseases in the world. But the resident didn’t necessarily contract the disease in Michigan. “Persons should also avoid direct contact with ill or dead animals and not feed small rodents when living or traveling in plague-endemic areas”. It is treatable with common antibiotics.
