California just saw its first plague case in 5 years. Experts explain why you shouldn't panic

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Yahoo News

Health officials in California revealed Monday that a South Lake Tahoe resident has tested positive for plague.

The patient, who has not been publicly identified, is believed to have been bitten by an infected flea while walking their dog along the Truckee River Corridor or in the Tahoe Keys area, according to a press release from El Dorado County’s Health and Human Services Agency. The patient is “currently under the care of a medical professional and is recovering at home,” the press release says.

“Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County,” Dr. Nancy Williams, El Dorado County Public Health Officer, said in a statement. “It’s important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and/or camping in areas where wild rodents are present. Human cases of plague are extremely rare but can be very serious.”

Several areas of South Lake Tahoe have signs that warn the public about the presence of plague and ways to prevent exposure, the press release says.



Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/california-first-plague-case-5-years-182518943.html

[tanyev]

1. Plague's just gonna have to take a number and wait in line.

[live love laugh]

20. 💯

[The Daily Irishman]

2. Just Keep Trump Away from It. . .

and things will be fine!

[kiri]

3. and bring lots of bleach, HCQ, etc.

On the contrary, everything Trumpino touches dies. Touching plague will benefit all humankind.

[sakabatou]

4. Who had plague on their doomsday bingo?

[louis-t]

10. Not me, I had flying monkeys.

With rabies.

[Throckmorton]

24. And laser cannons.

I also have a giraffe uprising and a metor strike on Big Ben.

[LeftInTX]

15. It occurs in the west

Came from rats on ships in either Los Angeles and SF. (Over 100 years ago) It is now endemic among rodents in the west

[appalachiablue]

5. Imma be resting a bit now from the news, back for

convention hilites.

[rickyhall]

6. Which plague? Bubonic? There are 3 listed in Wikipedia.

[ancianita]

8. Yes, bubonic, in the case of Lake Tahoe. Reported by the Sacramento Bee.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article245063630.html

[rickyhall]

14. Thanks

When lived in Colorado in the 80s where we were told by authorities when hunting cotton tails (I love wild rabbit) we'd best hunt them in the mountains because those on the plains had bubonic plague they'd gotten sharing holes with prairie dogs that had the fleas that carried the disease. This while many believed the plague had been eradicated.

[ancianita]

22. It's successfully treatable with antibiotics, but the microbial world goes on everywhere.

If you count Earth as a year old, microbes dominated from March onward, and we arrived the week between Christmas and New Year.

While we've believed we're the apex predators of Earth, just because we can kill off some of Nature, two apex predators have literally changed the course of human history on the planet (and will probably continue to)-- mosquitoes and COVID-19.

[JDC]

7. We get a case in Colorado every year or so

Prairie Dogs carry it/fleas.

[byronius]

9. Every burrowing rodent population on every continent lives with it everyday.

According to the many books I've read on the subject. 'Plagues and Peoples' by William H. McNeill being the last, just recently.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Really nothing to worry about.

Here in New Mexico, with only a fraction of California's population, we typically get a handful of cases each year. A few weeks ago we had our first death in several years from plague.

The science fiction con held in Albuquerque in August (one day of virtual con this year) goes by the name Bubonicon. I always tell people that yes, it means exactly what you think.

[womanofthehills]

12. My NM friend had the plague here in New Mexico 15 yrs ago

Had a complete recovery.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. The doctors here are very aware of it, and so

tend to catch it early. It usually responds very well to anti-biotics.

Sometimes an out of state visitor manages to get it, and it can take the doctors back wherever to figure it out.

[Aristus]

16. It's actually very interesting.

Yersinia pestis, the organism that causes the Black Plague, is, despite is fearsome reputation and murderous history, very easy to treat. Give it a tetracycline, and it will chuckle weakly and give up the ghost.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. Yes. Certain drugs really are miracle drugs.

[JudyM]

23. Welcome to DU, juneleaf!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I remember all the stories about an outbreak in prarie dogs in TX a few years ago

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/theres-an-outbreak-of-plague-among-west-texas-prairie-dogs/

Considering what is going on now with coronavirus, I would think it can be extremely difficult to try to nail down the diagnosis other than what the OP article mentions about the swollen lymph nodes, where it could have been something from a tick bite or even west nile virus from a mosquito.

[Maxheader]

19. Recover dude...

Come back and tell us how your doing...advice on walking by streams and

rivers during the warm months.....