US woman diagnosed with rare pneumonic plague; infection from pet cats suspected

Wyoming in the US is on an alert after a woman living in the state’s northern Fremont county has been diagnosed with pneumonic plague. Considered the rarest of all plagues, the woman is likely to have caught the disease through her pet cats, media reports suggested. According to a report by Live Science, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that this woman’s case is the first in 12 years and seventh in the US since 1978. The CDC also informed that an average of seven cases of plague are reported each year in the country but is limited to the western US, with New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado producing the most patients. The notorious bacterium Yersinia Pestis is responsible for causing the disease and is remembered for Europe’s infamous ‘Black Death’ in the 1300s.

While as per the CDC, the case of pneumonic plague found in Wyoming-based women is highly unusual as it is the rarest and most fatal form of the illness. It is also dangerous as the disease can transfer from one person to another and spread in a community, similar to Black Death. According to media sources, the CDC categorised cats as “highly susceptible” to the plague. The body said that ill cats could infect their owners, veterinarians, and anyone who comes in contact with the Yersinia pestis following its aerosolisation. Meanwhile, details about the woman’s condition are little known, but she reportedly shows serious symptoms.

Vulnerability to the illness

The CDC reportedly informed that humans could be infected with the bacteria through flea bites and contact with infected animals or their tissues or body fluids. Moreover, it revealed that over 80% of plague cases in humans in the US are caused by the bubonic plague that spreads through fleas, and the patients develop swollen lymph nodes called "buboes”. 

While as for the pneumonic plague, the experts informed that humans could catch the plague through infectious droplets, spread by another person or animal with the illness. However, the death rate from plagues in the US has dropped from 66% to 11%, but the CDC advised treating the symptoms at their early stage to avoid serious complications, including death. 

Image: TWITTER/@CECI_CHAT