Arizona resident dies from the plague, health officials say
Health officials in Arizona have confirmed the death of a resident from the pneumonic plague - but they've not linked the death to a recent prairie die-off in an adjacent town.
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The case was recorded in Flagstaff, in Coconino County northern Arizona.
This marks the first recorded death from the disease in the county since 2007, when a resident interacted with an infected animal’s corpse.
The unidentified patient died in the emergency room at Flagstaff Medical Center, where they presented with symptoms of a severe lung infection.
The patient was found to be infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacteria which causes the plague.
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The Health Center issued a statement saying they administered attempts of life-saving resuscitation, but the patient did not recover.
Earlier in the week, the Coconino County Health and Human Services Department (CCHHS) reported a mass die-off of prairie dogs in an area just north of Flagstaff - which can be an indicator of present plague.
However, officials have also not been able to make a link between the plague case and the prairie die-off.
Fleas collected from the area of the prairie die-off have been taken for testing.
Around 7 human cases of plague are reported every year in the US since 2000 - and health officials at the Coconino County government have stressed that the public risk of contracting the disease remains low.
The plague, sometimes referred to as “The Black Death”, is famous for wreaking havoc across Medieval Europe before modern medicine could defend people from the infection.
In modern times, the plague is very rare and highly treatable with antibiotics.
Humans will typically contract the bacteria via a flea bite, or by handling the infected carcass of a dead animal.
There are several types of plague which can develop from the Yersinia pestis bacteria - the most common and famous of which is bubonic plague.
Bubonic plague is characterised by swollen and painful lymph nodes, known as buboes.
The pneumonic plague spreads to the lungs from other untreated forms of plague.