A resident from Michigan has tested positive for the first ever recorded case of bubonic plague in the state, authorities announced on Monday, through a statement released by the Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
The unidentified resident, hailing from Marquette County, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, has returned from a trip in a Colorado area where there have been previous reports of plague activity. Human-to-human contact should not raise concerns, the state health department announced, according to Reuters.
In 2015, it was the 14th case reported from all over the United States. This trumps the annual number of only three cases of the uncommon but very lethal flea-borne disease, the officials added.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services confirms a Michigan resident's diagnosis of bubonic plague. https://t.co/IUa1MS0QiF
— WTVG 13abc (@13abc) September 14, 2015
Last August, an unnamed person died of the bubonic plague from Pueblo County, Colorado which was the first case in more than ten years. It is believed that the victim acquired the disease from fleas on a dead prairie dog that was found in Turkey Creek that also tested positive for the plague, according to the Pueblo City-County Health Department, Newsweek reported.
Out of the 13 cases that were previously contracted this year, four patients have died. On the other hand, none of the 10 infected patients last year died of the plague. In 2006, only two out of 17 that were infected succumbed to the disease. The MDHHS has not yet identified that cause of the increasing number of cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determines that the plague was brought to the country through steamships that were badly overrun with rats that came from infected locations all over Asia, according to the Business Insider.
It is important to take note of the first signs of the plague such as high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and the swelling of lymph nodes located in the neck, armpit, or groin.
