Second Confirmed Death Over Plague in Colorado

The prospect of an epidemic is grim, and even more so when it's the plague, which has a history of taking so many lives. On Wednesday, it was announced that another person has passed away from the plague in Southern Colorado, the second from the state to contract the disease and die this year.

While the identity of the patient has not yet been revealed, the Pueblo County Health Department was able to confirm some details regarding the disease that killed the adult victim.

According to the Associated Press, medical officer Christine Nevin-Woods said that the victim likely experienced a rare septicemic form of the plague. The septicemic plague occurs when the bacteria enters and multiplies in the blood. It's often caught from fleas or rodent bites, which health officials from Pueblo County confirmed on CNN as the press release stated, that "the individual may have contracted the disease from fleas on a dead rodent or animal."

Symptoms of this form of the plague include fever, chills and bleeding under the skin, although it can be difficult to diagnose because of the lack of buboes or swelling in the lymph nodes which is characteristic of most other cases of the plague.

This challenge kept the first case of plague-related death this year from being diagnosed until he fell to his death in June. The young athlete from Northern Colorado contracted the disease, but was only revealed to have suffered from septicemic plague after he passed away.

California has also recorded its first case of the plague since 2006, a young child that caught the disease from the Yosemite National Park, according to CBS Los Angeles. Health officials from the state have begun an investigation to see how widespread the disease is at the moment.

While studies from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) report that the United States does experience an average of seven cases of plague patients each year, the last time a person has died of the life-threatening disease in the country was back in 2013. Even further back, Colorado's last plague-related death was in 2004, which is over a decade ago.

Reports from CNN have health officials warning the public to protect themselves and their pets from fleas that might be carrying the disease. Citizens are advised to keep their animals from roaming too long outside, as it's possible for domesticated pets to bring infected fleas into the house and endanger the residents. In Pueblo County, the only confirmed animal to have the plague was the prairie dog found dead in the western part of the county.