Human Plague Striking U.S.: 5 Things You Need To Know

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

It’s not close to “Black Death” levels, but human plague is on the rise in the United States in 2015.

The 14th case was confirmed Monday in Michigan, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services reported. Four of those patients died from the disease.

A CDC report from August said the center is seeing a “higher than usual” number of cases this year.

What is plague, and how can you guard against it?

It is not an airborne disease

The plague can only spread between humans if droplets are coughed into the air and ingested by another human, according to the CDC. In the United States, these days humans are infected through animals or fleas.

The most common way humans get the plague, the CDC says, is from a bite by an infected flea.

Another common method of contracting the plague is from contact with an animal’s blood or tissue. Hunters, for example, could catch the disease by skinning an infected animal without any kind of protection.

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Three types

The plague actually takes three different forms: bubonic, pneumonic and septicemic. In all three types, a victim experiences fever, chills and weakness.

The bubonic plague usually comes from flea bites, and the bacteria spread from the bite to cause painful, inflamed lymph nodes.

Septicemic plague originates from flea bites or infected animals and causes bodily organs and tissue to turn black and die.

Pneumonic plague is spread through cough or sneeze droplets and causes pneumonia and respiratory problems.

A dark history

A plague endemic has struck three times in human history, once each in the sixth, 14th and 19th centuries.

The 14th-century “Black Death” is the most well-known.

It originated in China and spread along trade routes, eventually wiping out an estimated 60% of the European population, according to the CDC.

Most recently, the plague hit China in the late 1800s, killing almost 10 million people.

In the United States

The plague isn’t exactly common in the United States. The disease infects an average of just three people per year, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said.

But 14 cases have already been reported in the United States this year.

11 of those cases were reported before April, which caused the CDC to put out a 2015 plague report in August urging doctors to consider the plague as a diagnosis in people who show plague symptoms.

The states most affected on average are New Mexico, Arizona Colorado, California, Oregon, and Nevada.

Plague prevention

Several simple, preventative measures exist to guard against the plague.

The CDC recommends a vigilant fight against rodents in and around your home. Use gloves when handling dead animals, and wear long sleeves and DEET if you’re going hiking or camping.

Use flea control products on your pets, and don’t let them sleep in the bed with you if they’ve been wandering near fleas or other infected animals.

Photo: Purple-colored Yersinia pestis bacteria, the bacteria that causes the plague, is seen on the spines of a flea. (Photo via National Institute of Allergy And Infectious Diseases)