Cat infects Oregon resident with the bubonic plague — a potentially deadly illness — that caused the black death in the Middle Ages. Source: Bassinet Jean via Wikimedia Commons.
On Monday, health officials confirm a US man has caught the bubonic plague — a potentially deadly illness — likely caught from his pet cat which displayed symptoms of the disease.
The case is the first example of the human plague in the county of Deschutes in Oregon since 2015.
“All close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and provided medication to prevent illness,” said Dr. Richard Fawcett, Deschutes County health officer.
If not diagnosed early, the plague can progress to infections of the bloodstream or lungs, according to a statement from Deschutes County Health Services.
“Fortunately, this case was identified and treated in the earlier stages of the disease, posing little risk to the community,” the statement continues.
“No additional cases of plague have emerged during the communicable disease investigation.”
The bubonic plague is commonly transmitted via fleas infected with a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. Humans can also catch it from contact with an animal carrying the disease. Symptoms typically take two to eight days to emerge, and include fever, headaches, chills and swollen lymph nodes.
The bubonic plague was most notorious for the infamous illness once known as the Black Death — a disease that killed tens of millions of people in Europe in the Middle Ages before the existence of antibiotics.
In modern times, it is much rarer for individuals to catch this disease, but people are fearful of another pandemic.
Dr. Dan Broach, director of the Centre for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, says that although this type of disease can be serious, it can easily be “treatable with antibiotics as long as it’s caught early”.
“It shouldn’t create the fear that people had in the Middle Ages of the Black Death,” he assured.
With the appearance of this plague and other outbreaks, a pandemic even deadlier than Covid-19 could be on the horizon says World Health organisation Director-General, Dr Tedros, at the world Government Summit in Dubai.
“Exactly six years ago, I said the world was not prepared for a pandemic and expressed my concern at that time that a pandemic could happen any time,” he said.
“In the aftermath of Covid-19, millions of people are dead with social, economic and political shocks that reverberate to this day. The painful lessons we learned are in danger of being forgotten as attention turns to many other crises confronting our world.
“It may be caused by an influenza virus, or a new coronavirus, or it may be caused by a new pathogen we don’t even know about yet – what we call Disease X.
“If we fail to learn those lessons, we will pay dearly next time – and there will be a next time. The cycle of panic and neglect is beginning to repeat.”
Dr. Tedros urged countries to deliver the ‘Pandemic Agreement’ to contain future outbreaks efficiently.
“The next pandemic is a matter of when not if,” he remarked.
