After an Arizona resident succumbed to pneumonic plague in a Flagstaff emergency room, health officials are cautioning residents to be careful around sick pets and animals.
Health officials are also investigating “a sudden die-off” of prairie dogs near the city, which could be plague related.
The unidentified resident, who died shortly after checking into the ER with symptoms, tested positive for Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes pneumonic plague, the county announced Friday.
The bacteria is the cause of the three most common forms of plague in humans.
One of them, the bubonic plague, was known as the “Black Death” and is believed to have killed an estimated 25 million people in 14th Century Europe.
The pneumonic plague is a disease that is now more often found in Africa but has also shown up in largely the western United States, studies show. There have been only 15 plague deaths in the U.S. from 2000 to 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Following the county’s announcement Friday, the Arizona Republic reported:
The CDC says Yersinia pestis is transmitted by fleas, cycles naturally among wild rodents and that humans usually get the plague after being bitten by an infected rodent flea or by handling an infected animal. People may also become infected through exposure to sick pets, especially cats, the CDC says.
Also, in early July, health officials in Coconino County, which covers Flagstaff, issued an alert of a prairie dog die-off in the nearby Townsend Winona area, stating:
A sudden die-off of prairie dogs and rodents can be an indicator of plague, an infectious disease that can affect humans and animals. The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, is transmitted from the bite of infected fleas or by coming into contact with infected animals. Individuals can also become infected through exposure to sick pets.
Yet, county health officials also indicated in an official statement after the resident’s death:
The death is not related to a recent report of a prairie dog die-off in the Townsend Winona area, northeast of Flagstaff. This is the first recorded death from Pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007 when an individual had an interaction with a dead animal infected with the disease.
County health officials did not explain the basis for their finding that the resident’s death and the prairie dog die-off are unrelated.
In humans, plague is characterized by the sudden onset of fever and malaise, which can be accompanied by abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, according to the CDC.
The pneumonic plague is one of the three most common forms of plague, CDC studies show, the other two being septicemic and bubonic.
The bubonic plague, or “Black Death” ravaged Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s, killing an estimated 30 percent to 60 percent of Europe’s population. It was believed to be spread through trade routes and the bites from fleas on rats.
The mortality rate for untreated plague has ranged from 66 percent to 93 percent, according to the CDC. However, in the era of antibiotics, that has been dramatically reduced to approximately 16 percent, according to the center’s literature.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
