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Health officials in the state of Oregon recently discovered a rare case of bubonic plague in a resident located in Deschutes County.
According to a press release issued by Deschutes County Health Services, “the individual was likely infected by their symptomatic pet cat.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) describes bubonic plague as one of two main types of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria usually found in small mammals and their fleas.
“Plague is transmitted between animals and humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact with infected tissues, and inhalation of infected respiratory droplets,” the WHO website explains.
Deschutes County Health Officer Dr. Richard Fawcett told NBC News that the individual likely had an infection that began in a lymph node, but by the time they were hospitalized it had progressed to their bloodstream.
He also noted that some physicians at the hospital were concerned that due to a developing cough the infection may have also contracted pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted between humans.
“All close contacts of the resident and their pet have been contacted and provided medication to prevent illness,” said Fawcett.
Deschutes County Health Services also reports that while this case of the bubonic plague is believed to have come from a cat, the most common animals to carry plague in Central Oregon are squirrels, chipmunks, mice and other rodents.
The last time a resident of Oregon contracted bubonic plague was in 2015 after a teenage girl was believed to have been infected from a flea bite.
In September of 2023, a resident of Archuleta County in Colorado died as a result of contracting the plague.
Bubonic plague is most often associated by people with The Black Death, a pandemic that hit Europe between 1347 and 1351 that killed as many as 50 million people, or around half of the population of Europe.
The World Health Organization reports that currently the three countries with the most cases of bubonic plague are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.
However, a 2021 study revealed that plague infections could occur more often now, especially in the western United States, due to climate change.