CNN – A case of plague has been confirmed in a person in Pueblo County, Colorado, officials said Tuesday.
The case was flagged Friday from preliminary test results, and the potential source of the infection is still under investigation, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment said in a news release.
The plague is an infectious disease caused by bacterium, Yersinia pestis, transmitted by fleas.
Although it is best known for “The Black Death,” an outbreak that killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages, the bacteria circulates naturally among wild rodents and rarely infects humans today, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Plague is transmitted to humans through bites from infected fleas, contact with infected animals or inhaling droplets from the cough of an infected person or animal.
From 1970 to 2022, there were 67 reported cases of plague in Colorado, according to the CDC.
Worldwide, 3,248 human plague cases were reported from 2010 to 2015, most commonly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Peru, the World Health Organization found …
