What is bubonic plague, a disease of which a case has been confirmed in the United States?

A rare human case of bubonic plague was recently identified in the United States, according to local health officials. The patient, who lives in Deschutes County, Oregon, is being treated and was likely infected by his cat.

“All close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and given medications to prevent illness,” Deschutes County Health Officer Dr. Richard Fawcett said last week when announcing the case.

“Fortunately, this case was identified and treated in the early stages of the disease, posing little risk to the public,” authorities said in a press release. “No other cases of plague were identified during the investigation,” they said.

The disease that caused the Black Death, a pandemic that killed at least a third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages, is rare in developed countries and is now treatable but remains potentially dangerous.

Fever and swollen lymph nodes.

According to authorities, symptoms of plague in humans appear eight days after contact with a sick animal or flea. These may include fever, nausea, weakness, chills, or even muscle pain. Bubonic plague, which remains the most common, is characterized by a high fever and painfully swollen lymph nodes.

In 20–40% of cases, the bubo suppurates, and the patient recovers after a fairly long period of recovery, according to the Pasteur Institute. Otherwise, the disease progresses to septicemic plague, a rapidly fatal infection of the bloodstream. In some cases, the bacteria reach the lungs and transmission from person to person occurs through the air. Contact subjects then develop pneumonic plague, a fatal disease within three days if not treated early and appropriately.

During the 20th century, the use of antibiotics and increased public health measures significantly reduced the morbidity and mortality from the disease, discovered in 1894, but did not lead to its extinction. Plague is a rodent disease that is primarily carried by rats and transmitted to humans through flea bites from infected rodents.

The last case in France dates back to 1945.

Travelers heading to endemic centers are advised to avoid contact with rodents and protect themselves from flea bites with skin repellent. If you come into contact with a coughing plague patient, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

One of the characteristics of a plague epidemic is its ability to “fade out” for several years before suddenly reappearing in the form of an epidemic.

The plague still rages in Africa, Asia and the Americas and is one of the diseases currently re-emerging in the world. Between 1990 and 2020, nearly 50,000 human cases were reported to WHO from 26 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas. Not a single case of plague has been reported recently in either Oceania or Europe. In France, the last cases of the disease date back to 1945 in Corsica.