Squirrel Tested For Bubonic Plague

[fmdog44]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/me...-plague-in-colorado/ar-BB16ImWf?ocid=msedgdhp
Public health officials have announced that a squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague.

© Matt Cardy/Getty Images BATH, ENGLAND - APRIL 23: A squirrel looks from a tree in Royal Victoria Park on April 23, 2013 in Bath, England.
The town of Morrison, Colorado, in Jefferson County, which is just west of Denver, made the startling announcement saying that the squirrel is the first case of plague in the county.
“Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions are not taken,” officials from Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) said in a statement released to the

 

[AnnieA]

Thankfully, there are a good many antibiotics that are effective against it and person to person transmission is pretty rare. Getting an early diagnosis is key.

In those treated for bubonic plague, the mortality rate is 1-15%. Primary or secondary septicemic plague has a 40% mortality rate, even in treated patients. It's still very dangerous, but nothing like the really high mortality rates before antibiotics.

 

[Becky1951]

And next ladies and gentlemen.

 

[jujube]

Oh, heck, now I have to get the squirrels down to the testing center.....

 

[Butterfly]

We get a few cases of plague here in NM almost every year.

 

[win231]

Well....looks like I'm in big trouble. I hand feed squirrels almost daily during my walks. Some of them are so accustomed to me, they'll run up to me & climb up my pants leg.

 

[Warrigal]

Hubby and I visited America in 1985. We hired a car and travelled for 2 weeks in a big loop from LA down to San Diego, turned inland to the Grand Canyon then up to San Francisco and back to LA. We weren't worried about guns in those days but warning signs about plague and rabies made us very cautious about cute little animals like squirrels and prairie dogs. These diseases are unknown in Australia. It nearly killed me not to feed them, especially when they sat up and begged for a treat. In Canada we didn't go wandering in the woods after we read the warnings about bears.

 

[fmdog44]

As of today 7/17 I saw now a person has contracted it.

 

[Becky1951]

https://nypost.com/2020/07/17/first-human-case-of-bubonic-plague-since-2015-reported-in-colorado/

 

[win231]

By the way, there is no animal that can transmit or spread Bubonic Plague.
It is spread by fleas, not animals. You can encounter an infected flea from an animal - or nowhere near an animal.

 

[Warrigal]

I knew that but the advice was to keep a safe distance because fleas can hop. They would certainly hop off a dead animal to a live one, species not specific.

We were advised not to camp near any burrows because of fleas. Rabies is something else.

 

[Gary O']

Squirrel Tested For Bubonic Plague

Hey, yer scarin' my furry bud Zippy