(NewsNation) — Oregon officials confirmed the first case of bubonic plague in the state since 2015, which the resident likely contracted from a pet cat.
The case was reported in Deschutes County, Oregon, in a rural area of the state. Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the plague, is carried by fleas. Animals, including domestic ones, can become infected after flea bites and potentially pass that infection to an owner through a bite or sometimes through coughing or sneezing.
While the plague is famous for killing more than a third of Europe’s population during the 1300s, the Black Death happened at a time before modern medicine and antibiotics. Flea medicine can also help prevent the spread of the plague in our modern era.
“A lot of it was due to infested fleas on rats and mice that were then biting the humans,” Dr. Dana Hawkinson told NewsNation.
The plague is active in certain areas of the U.S., including the Four Corners area of Colorado. Symptoms of the bubonic plague can appear two to eight days after being bitten and include weakness, chills, muscle aches, nausea, sudden fever and swollen lymph nodes.
Health officials said the resident and their close contacts were treated with medication to prevent more severe illness, and the cat was also treated for its infection.
If not treated quickly, the bubonic plague can spread to the bloodstream or lungs, at which point it becomes the pneumonic plague. While human-to-human transmission of the bubonic plague is rare, the pneumonic plague can be passed from person to person.
“This is a bacterial infection, so we have good antibiotics, too,” Hawkinson said. “It’s important that if you start to develop symptoms of illness, really seek treatment right away.”
Doctors said the patient did develop a cough while undergoing treatment, and it was unclear if the plague had progressed to be pneumonic, but those in close contact with the resident were given antibiotics out of an abundance of caution.
Squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice and other rodents are the most common carriers of the plague. Fleas that feed from those animals can then pass the plague to other animals, like pets, or directly to humans.
“The main thing is really understand your animals,” Hawkinson said. “Treat your animals with flea and tick medicine on a regular basis.”
To prevent contracting the plague, doctors recommend keeping rodents away from property by clearing brush or other piles of debris, discouraging cats from hunting rodents, treating pets with flea medicine and keeping them on a leash when outdoors.