Following the death of a 16-year-old boy who died due to plague, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to determine how prevalent the disease is in northern Colorado, the Associated Press reported.
The plague was possibly spread by fleas on the boy's family's rural property and is believed to be epticemic plague, which spreads directly through the bloodstream.
The most common type of plague is bubonic plague, which affects the body's lymphatic system, which is different from the disease that caused the death of Taylor Gaes.
Those who visited Gaes in the family home northwest of Fort Collins were prompted about the disease and are already considered safe after the incubation period passed, Fox News reported.
Plague is very rare, with an average of seven human cases nationally a year, CDC reported.
CDC together with county health officials will test the animals on the family's property for the plague.
As HNGN previously reported, Gaes died June 8, a day after his birthday, due to septicemic plague, after being exposed to fleas around a dead animal.
