Public health officials in Colorado have confirmed that a human has tested positive for the plague, a rare but potentially deadly infectious disease that’s typically spread through flea bites.
The infected individual is from Pueblo County, according to the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment.
While the plague conjures nightmares of flea-infested rats and dreary medieval villages filled with the dead and dying, in the modern day things aren’t so grim.
Of all the things I had on my 2024 bingo card, the literal plague was not one of them.
As the article says, there are typically a few cases a year in the US. It’s actually endemic in the wild. No need to panic just from a case or two popping up.
Must be confirmation bias, then. It’s usually not in the news all that much. Like, I knew it wasn’t unheard of, just thought it was more rare than a few cases a year (was thinking more like a few per decade).
It pops up in the news more than you think. Especially if they feel it’s a slow enough news day.
Bubonic plague is really not a disease to be concerned about in 2024 compared to thinks like influenza, which we’re doing very little about and which is far more likely to become an untreatable pandemic.
And the more we encroach on the wild, the more chance we have of catching things that used to stay in the wild.
Me looking at that link description
“The” plague? As in, the OG plague to end all plagues from the 1300s? Fuuuuuuuuuucccckkkk.
On second thought with the way society is running right now, the end times might be an improvement 🤷
If it’s the black death, that’s the best news I’ve heard today cuz anribiotics work just fine.
for now
Shit, someone gets the plague here every year, it’s even more common in New Mexico.
When I first moved to Colorado, I was definitely surprised the first time I saw something about bubonic plague in the headlines but I’ve lived here long enough that it’s just something that happens every year or so, it’s pretty much always isolated and most of the time the person recovers.
More people die hiking in this state than from plague and I don’t think that’s going to stop people from hiking anytime soon. Same with skiing and I’ll be on the slopes come winter.
