Oh, USA...what next?!!?

[MurrayM]

A squirrel has tested positive for the bubonic plague in the Town of Morrison in Colorado, Jefferson County Public Health officials announced in a statement over the weekend. The squirrel, discovered on Saturday, is the first case of plague in Jefferson County, the statement said.

A spokesperson for Jefferson County Public Health told CBS News on Tuesday that someone in Morrison reported seeing at least 15 dead squirrels around the town. Officials tested one, and since it was positive for bubonic plague, they expect others are also infected.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bubonic-plague-squirrel-tests-positive-in-colorado/

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[menzies]

Is there a research lab in the area?

 

[ranger58sb]

When we lived near Denver, it was commonly said that prairie dogs often carried bubonic plague, given as another reason for varmint hunting the things. Never knew if true or not...

-Chris

 

[Woodland Hills]

There has been plague in Arizona and New Mexico for decades. It’s carried by rats and is transmitted in the dust from dried feces. This is nothing new!

 

[sunchaser]

When we lived near Denver, it was commonly said that prairie dogs often carried bubonic plague, given as another reason for varmint hunting the things. Never knew if true or not...-Chris

Yup, rodents in the Western US carrying bubonic plague are hardly newsworthy except for a beleaguered few.

 

[Toki]

Come on people! You're ignoring the tremendous political and economic capital that can be reaped with well placed and sketchy bubonic plaque stories right now. It's like you're unaware of how Society works!

 

[Crusty Chief]

So many ways this tale could weave...........get the govt. involved and it will implode for sure.

 

[MurrayM]

Oh...I get it now...the Bieber/bubonic plague. A truly ghastly infliction successfully eradicated from Canada.

 

[BogCollector]

Every year we would have chipmunks with bubonic plague in Northern California. It was reported because it was so horrible in...1351 AD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death.

It's been solved.

 

[ssobol]

There has been plague in Arizona and New Mexico for decades. It’s carried by rats and is transmitted in the dust from dried feces. This is nothing new!

That's Hantavirus, not plague.

 

[Frosty]

That's Hantavirus, not plague.

No, I believe there is both. I remember many years ago (the first time I was in the US Southwest), I was hiking at Bandelier National Monument (New Mexico) and there were signs at all the trailheads about bubonic plague in some small creature (I forget now, although I want to say it was squirrels or chipmunks).

At the time I was all "What?!?" To me, Bubonic Plague was something you'd read about in the Middle Ages, not at a park trailhead.

So it seems completely reasonable to believe it's still there now.

(There is also hantavirus.)

 

[Boat]

Plague entered in San Francisco and has been slowly spreading since.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_plague_of_1900–1904

The San Francisco plague of 1900–1904 was an epidemic of bubonic plague centered on San Francisco's Chinatown. It was the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.[1] The epidemic was recognized by medical authorities in March 1900, but its existence was denied for more than two years by California's Governor Henry Gage. His denial was based on business reasons, to protect the reputations of San Francisco and California and to prevent the loss of revenue due to quarantine. The failure to act quickly may have allowed the disease to establish itself among local animal populations

 

[AlaskaProf]

When we lived near Denver, it was commonly said that prairie dogs often carried bubonic plague, given as another reason for varmint hunting the things. Never knew if true or not...

-Chris

It is true. They are known and constant plague vectors. When I was at Fort Carson, there were veterinary staff who were tasked with managing the critters. County health departments swab colonies to collect the fleas, which are the actual villains, regularly. I suppose the reason this is a story is because some careless squirrel wasn't practicing social distancing.

 

[MurrayM]

It is true. They are known and constant plague vectors. When I was at Fort Carson, there were veterinary staff who were tasked with managing the critters. County health departments swab colonies to collect the fleas, which are the actual villains, regularly. I suppose the reason this is a story is because some careless squirrel wasn't practicing social distancing.

Hey, maybe a prairie dog/squirrel hybrid will do a better job than the current human/neanderthal hybrid is doing