Just 24 hours after being admitted to hospital with symptoms of the pneumonic plague – a patient in Arizona tragically passed away from the terrifying illness, which was last seen in the UK in 1918
Centuries ago, the ‘Black Death’ ravaged Europe, claiming the lives of tens of millions of people and cutting the overall population potentially by as much as half.
Now, a case of the pneumonic plague – the most deadly kind of the disease – has been seen in the US, with a patient in Arizona turning up at hospital with symptoms of the fatal disease and dying that same day.
Few details have been released about the patient, out of respect for their grieving relatives, but the patient’s symptoms were said to be very serious when they were rushed to the Flagstaff Medical Center for treatment.
After an autopsy was conducted it was confirmed that Yersinia pestis – the bacteria that causes the plague – had been present in the individual, who tragically lost their life. It’s the first recorded death from pneumonic plague death since 2007.
The pneumonic plague is the most rare form of the disease, and travels through airborne droplets between people, seriously impacting their lungs.
The bubonic plague is more common and spreads through infected fleas. This occurs either by people themselves being bitten by the fleas or coming in contact with an animal that has been bitten by one.
People sometimes get the pneumonic plague as a complication from untreated bubonic plague if it spreads to the lungs. Another kind of the illness – called the septicemic plague – sometimes occurs when bubonic plague spreads to the bloodstream, but it also can develop by itself.
The bubonic plague is known as the ‘Black Death’ because of one particularly gruesome symptom: it causes swollen lymph nodes, and the tissue around these ‘buboes’ can sometimes die, turning black.
Medicine has come a long way since the plague ravaged Europe in the 1300s, and the plague can be treated with antibiotics, but it still poses a serious health threat and potential to cause a pandemic.
Pneumonic plague in particular needs to be treated straight away, or it can claim lives incredibly quickly – with nearly all cases, reportedly 90 percent, ending with fatalities.
The tragic death of this patient in Arizona is the first confirmed to be caused by the plague since 2007 – and there has not been an outbreak in the UK since 1918, when one took place in Suffolk.
Risk to people in the UK is “very low” the Sun reports, and officials in Arizona have expressed similar sentiments about the public health risk there.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased,” said Patrice Horstman, an official from Coconino County said, adding, “We are keeping them in our thoughts during this difficult time. Out of respect for the family, no additional information about the death will be released.”