TWO CASES OF PLAGUE CONFIRMED IN NEW MEXICO

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newsweek


BY HARRIET SINCLAIR ON 6/26/17 AT 3:09 PM


Two new cases of human plague have been confirmed in New Mexico’s Sante Fe County, the state’s department on health said on Monday.

A 52-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman have contracted the disease, marking the second and third cases in the state this year. The first involved a man in his 60s who was diagnosed earlier in June.

None of the cases reported have proved fatal thus far, but all three patients have been hospitalized. Investigations of their neighborhoods aim to ensure the safety of residents. friends and family, the Associated Press reported.

A state public health veterinarian, Paul Ettestad, told the news service that plague could be carried by fleas from wild rodents that have died.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/two-cases-plague-confirmed-new-mexico-629172?piano_t=1

[Coventina]

1. Soon to make a triumphant comeback, with government and healthcare cuts.

[Rollo]

2. Yup, and Trump will dimiss it as a "fake plague"...

How ironic that he's the biggest rat of them all.


.

[Ilsa]

4. Recession, crime increases, potential war, now plague? So much winning! nt

[LeftyMom]

3. This happens all the effing time in the west.

The rodents have it. It's NBD. Antibiotics are a thing.

Be careful around rodents and their waste in the western US unless you're looking to get y pestis or hanta virus. There are signs at every campground, etc.

[Coventina]

6. It is NBD if treated. My concern is Trump & his maladministration will gut public health

to the detriment of the rural poor.

Most of the plague cases out here in AZ are on the tribal lands where medical care is already sub-par.

[Igel]

15. Perspective.

It's a good thing. Knowledge is power and all that sort of rubbish.

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html

The lull from 1926 to around 1965 can't be correlated well with government services. In the mid-60s services increased, and so did the reported incidence. But two other things were going on then, too: Increased hygiene and awareness and decreased rural population growth. Public awareness you can chalk up to a cheap government campaign. The rest, to what the "we the people" and not "they the government" did.

Some of the increase can be correlated with better reporting. But then you're stuck with the downward trend only after 1985.

From 1965 till '85 reporting probably got better, but not that much better. The 1965 data reflected a lot of increased population, but more importantly a lot of increased population moving to the American Southwest *and* that population moving into suburbs. I watched my brother skydive north of Phoenix in 1972, landing in what struck me as wasteland. In 1982 he bought a house a bit north of there, on the northern fringes of developed land with just suburb between his new house and the apt. he'd lived in in '72. In 1996 my parents bought a house maybe 5 miles north of my brothers house, and north of them was just desert. When we sold my parents' house in 2014 they were a few miles north of the suburb/desert dividing line. Just think of all the desert rodents that were displaced.

The trend line's down since '85. Not because of worse reporting, and not because of all the wonderful healthcare reforms Reagan introduced. But also not because of less development. Instead people are better aware--mostly through local awareness campaigns and news stories like this one--not to piddle with packrats. Saying it's to the federal government's credit that infection rates dropped after '85 leads one to question 1965 and why during Clinton's administration the infection rate decline slowed so sharply. (Yes, you can read it as declining, but then you have a sharp uptick at the end of his administration to deal with and a decline under Bush II's, etc. My correlation-by-eyeball says that during recessions and economic hardship the infection incidence declines sharply, but then again so would new construction and expansion into pestis-bearing pest-infested areas.)

[Coventina]

16. Good to know. Thanks. n/t

[TexasProgresive]

5. Not really worthy of all caps- plague is in S.W. rodents and their fleas.

It is easily treated with antibiotics. I more worry about Hanta virus which is also carried by rodents in the 4 corners area. Since it is a virus it has to run its course often in death.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Headline was not my idea. DU expects posters to post headlines exactly as published. n/t

[Warpy]

7. We had a very chilly spring, so this isn't unusual

Plague is treatable and curable if it's caught early and doctors here know what to look for.

[longship]

8. What is this? Beat the Reaper?

Actually, prairie dogs carry the plague, supposedly under control now. Still, the plague remains in the world because there is a reservoir in non-humans. It's like leprosy and armadillos.

Sorry. Couldn't resist posting Firesign Theatre.

[keithbvadu2]

9. Wait for it!... Surely a big Mexico/USA wall would have stopped it.

Wait for it!... Surely a big Mexico/USA wall would have stopped it.

(Sarcasm thingie goes here)

[Retrograde]

17. See, we shoulda built that wall around Asia

Plague entered the mainland US c. 1900, probably on a ship from China (if you have a ship you have rats) and was epidemic in San Francisco. It was brought under control, but after the 1906 earthquake and fire people relocated to other parts of the Bay Area and brought the Y. pestis-carrying fleas with them, probably inadvertently. From there, plague got into the wild rodent population and spread throughout the Southwest. Since the carriers are mostly in remote areas there aren't many cases, but there are enough that most emergency rooms won't be stumped by the symptoms. With modern antibiotics plague is treatable if caught in time.

[Demonaut]

10. nothing to see here..move along

[Nitram]

12. The plague is no longer a big deal. Easily treated with antibiotics.

[milestogo]

13. Trump and Bannon went to New Mexico?

They are a plague on humanity.

[Aristus]

14. Most strains of Y. pestis are susceptible to tetracyclines.

Tetracyclines such as doxycycline are pretty cheap and work well, with tolerable, moderate side effects. Nobody panic...

[riversedge]

18. Might need #ACA and #Medicaid @SenDeanHeller