I hadn't seen anyone mention this so thought I would post about it.

Today a New Mexico resident walked into a New York hospital criticly ill with the Bubonic plague. Doctors are speculating that he caught it from fleas on rats in his native state.

If I were a pessimist, Id start rereading Revelations :D </font>

Everybody knows that Dubya's election was the first sign of the end times... what did you expect?

That sounds very scary. How is the virus spread??

Better call in the out break crew.

<font color="#00ccff">Bubonic Plague is usually carried and spread by fleas. I THINK the doctor on the radio this morning said that it is not contagious human to human, maybe Attalus will be able to add some info?</font>

It's never really been eradicated, it's endemic (ie. prevalent) in all parts of the world except Europe and Antarctica. Another epidemic is expected by the medical community.

Can be spread by coughing, sneezing, and even talking can shower someone with the Yersinia Pestis bacteria by an infected person, but this only occurs in the most serious cases. Symptoms: Swollen lymph nodes, high fever, delerium. As it's a bacteria it can be treated very effectively with antibiotics.

It also survives as spores in the ground for centuries. If they are inhaled they can cause the disease. Archaeologists excavating 16th and 17th century plague pits in Britain wear masks so they don't breath it in.

i thought they had i cure, but i coulld be wrong

<font color="#00ccff">
Ah-HA! I knind of thought that Doc in NY sounded like he was doing damage controll when he said it couldn't be spread human to human [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for the info Epona!

Edit: As Epona pointed out, the treatmentis Anti-Biotics and the Black Death is notlikely to do the damage it did in the 16th century again.</font>

[ 11-07-2002, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

Yes, they do - antibiotics!
It's no longer fatal if you get treatment. Without treatment it's fatal in 60-70% of cases, usually within a week of onset of symptoms.

Epona is quite right. Bubonic plague can only be spread by "vectors," i.e. rat fleas, except in one form, "Pneumonic Plague," (yeah, I know it rhymes) which is spread through the air by droplets. It is quite treatable with tetracyclines and the quinolones. BTW, it is not a viruus, but, as Epona again says, a bacillus, Yersenia pestis. This is by no means as bad as smallpox or Ebola virus.

LOL! ;) Hmmm...I'm getting deja vu from an earlier thread on earthquakes here. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Nah, we're always seeing rare diseaes in Dallas that we thought were stomped out. Usually they come from unvaccinated populations where they are endemic, i.e. Mexico. I've seen diptheria, tetanus, typhoid fever, and amoebic dysentary in Mexican nationals. A frend of mine has seen dengue fever and anthrax.

Holy SMOKES!!! Remind me not to move any further south! [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;)

Yeeps! Dangerous place, that is! ;)

By eating Big Macks, JUST SAY NO!

*erects giant plastic wall around cuba*

"we already have Dengei Tsi Tsi Yellow Fever and West Nile! we dont need this too!" [img]tongue.gif[/img]

No worries getting it in Canada just do dam cold for the virus to live. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Well, according to a book I read, rabies and bubonic plague only tend to kill 1-5 people in the US each year, usually people in the boonies. But it is kinda frightnin' to hear. Hope he's ok. :(

Mack took the words outta my mouth, lol.

LOL, that's why they call them "rare diseases." Ms. Dragonmage, ma'am, you wouldn't know from Beri-beri and tetanus in Gaw-jah, wood-ya? CDC says six cases of both, last year. ;)

Ya'll ain't sayin country folk eat roadkill is ya?

Another thing I read a while ago about the bubonic plague is that basically all of us alive now are descendants of people who most probably caught the plague and survived or didn't catch it at all while it was around - that may give us some kind of genetic protection.

Actually [img]tongue.gif[/img] I WOULD know tetanus and West Nile, meningitis (sp?) types and rabies. Those are the only ones I've had opportunity to inform myself about here. ;)

Unfortunately, I knew a woman who had gotten tetanus and not received a shot for it, so suffered miserably from lock-jaw and her only possible relief, according to her doctor, was to have her jaw broken and rewired. I don't know if she ever did it.

And, of course, rabies is something anyone in the country *should* be educated about.

Plus, I do believe there've been some cases of several types of meningitis here. Seems it was mostly amongst college students. That one's kind of scary. I had an ex-sister-in-law who got viral meningitis and she had a rough time of it even with treatment.

Lastly, the West Nile virus is the other *rare* disease that's in the news here lately. But I don't truly *freak out* over such things. IMO, there's probably quite a few of us in GA already who've been bitten by the little buggers and has it either floating around in our systems or has fought it off already.

I know that these even *rare* diseases mostly only do the worst damage to those who 1. are too stubborn to go to a doctor no matter how sick they are (Frank Oz? or was it Jim Henson?) 2. cannot afford medical attention or 3. live somewhere where medical help is not readily available. And the last two make it even less likely that most of these are fatal. It's usually #1 that kills people.

To make a long story short (too late! ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img] ), I wouldn't really *not* move or visit further south. We've got all kinds of *nasties* running around everywhere. ;)

P.S. - Just so's y'all will know...I don't talk like that. [img]tongue.gif[/img] Also, I do try my best to keep up with the CDC reports when I have the time. It's fascinating reading.

[ 11-08-2002, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: DragonMage ]

<font color="#00ccff">The CDC tracks all kinds of useful information about us human type beings [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

Strangely enough, <font color=lavender>Galadria</font> may have had a mild case of West Nile this summer (rash, headache, nausea and vomiting) but was too stubborn to have the test done. She said that it would just scare her and she'd get her name in the paper. She's fine, now, though she was ill for about 10-14 days.