Plague Detected in 6 Colorado Counties After 10-Year-Old Girl’s Death

Cholera has been found in animals and fleas in six states of Colorado after the death of a 10-year-old girl in early July due to a rare bacterial infection. The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment announced.

An unidentified fourth-grader who became infected was a member of the 4-H Weaselskin club and raised pigs as part of the program. The case referred to the state the first plague death since 2015, and the second confirmed case of cholera in Colorado this year.

Cholera is still present in the counties of San Miguel, El Paso, Boulder, Huerfano, Adams and La Plata. where death occurred, AnnMarie Harper, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Public Health’s Office of Disease Control and Public Health, confirmed to The Daily Beast. In May, a saigas have been tested positive for cholera in County El Paso, Colorado. Two people contracted cholera in the state last year after close contact with sick animals, but survived, according to Denver Post. Across the United States, there were five cholera cases in the United States by 2020, with one death.

At the time known as the “Black Death,” plague killed millions in the Middle Ages. Untreated plague, which spreads mainly in the western United States through infected rodents – usually prairie dogs – and phlegs that live in them, can lead to acute illness or death. About 85 percent of human plague cases pass through flea bites, although domestic cats that roam outside can transmit infected lice inside. Sagon do not infect cholera directly, according to the Tri-Colorado Department of Health, which warns, “Other sources of infection include the skin or use of infected rodents and animals, such as rabbits and rabbits.”

Experts say modern antibiotics are effective in treating cholera, and that this does not cause widespread panic, saying that the likelihood of contracting cholera in the U.S. is equal to that of a shark infected during an accident.

The “ancient homeland” of cholera is Central Asia, especially in what is now the Qinghai highlands of China, says Susan Jones, a professor at the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences who specializes in the historical ecology of the disease. Then people spread the plague on the Silk Road and Europe and eventually spread it through strong rats on ships all over the world.

“Cholera, as far as we know, appeared on a ship in San Francisco in the United States in 1900,” Jones told the Daily Beast. “And it spread from the city of San Francisco where rats became infected in the city and then came in contact with wildlife in counties outside San Francisco – the California squirrels were the right type of host for environmental rodents for the plague bacillus. And it was the flesh that divided them both, that he spread it among them.

There are several different forms of cholera, and there are seven or eight cholera-related deaths in the United States each year, Jones explained, adding that the recent Colorado case is a normal part of the cholera epidemic that is seen every year. The most common form in both animals and humans is bubonic plague, which lives in lymph nodes and attacks the immune system directly, he said, adding that if a person starts a course of antibiotics within the first 48 hours of symptoms, they win. nothing to worry about.

“But the problem is that when you first start having symptoms, you cough a little, your temperature goes up – what about the flu or COVID or 500 other things?” Jones continued. “Until the lymph nodes start to swell, it’s not very clear. That is why people can die from cholera, because by the time the lymph nodes become really swollen, especially in children, the bacteria will spread and grow all over the body. ”

If cholera infects a victim’s lungs, cholera is called pneumonia, which can get worse. about 10 percent of cholera cases in the US In this case, the disease is transmitted through the airways and can spread from one person to another through coughing and can lead to an epidemic. However, Jones said, “We never had this thing in this country, except for a few isolated incidents around 1900 in port cities like San Francisco, but they were able to keep it.”

Although untreated cholera is almost always fatal, the last human-to-human transmission of cholera occurred in 1924; according to the Tri-County Department of Health. And to date, the plague hasn’t crossed the Mississippi River enough, “mostly because the ecology isn’t right,” Jones said. “To keep this disease going, you need the right form of animal communities and a natural fleet.” (Madagascar is a place still a significant outbreak of cholera.)

Hunters, tourists, and anyone who is likely to come in contact with wildlife in certain areas of the U.S. can be safe by taking a few healthy precautions, Jones said: Wear long shawls and closed shoes and spray your feet and legs with insect repellent, which contains DEET. If you have a cat, keep it at home.

“Where’s that on the spectrum of horrible things?” said Jones. “Go down the road there, because it’s very rare. Right now, if you’re worried about illness, [COVID] the only thing you can do is make sure you take action. ”

It’s not uncommon for small outbreaks of cholera to occur each season and the chances of getting sick are extremely low, said Jill Matson, a professor of microbiology at the University of Toledo. While studying in North Dakota, Matson completed his Ph.D. dissertation on cholera and was aware of nearby prairie dog colonies. He understood this factor and said that people who hunt prairie dogs or treat them differently should consider themselves at a higher risk of cholera.

That is, it is not a concern for the vast majority of Americans, Matson told The Daily Beast.

“For your average person who is not in touch with these things, this is something unusual [issue], “he said.” Because you think you’re bitten by a random fleet that has cholera. “