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Bubonic Plague Strikes in Mongolia: Why Is It Still a Threat? (2019)

stevespang 7y ago
35 years ago I dated a Continental airlines stewardess who told me as a young girl she was diagnosed with the bubonic plague and treated. They never discovered where she picked it up as a young girl in Texas.
- onetimemanytime 7y ago
  did she tell before or after :) ...? I know, it's just an infection, but now that's a conversation starter
dmckeon 7y ago
The plague is endemic in fleas on rodents and small wild animals in the US Southwest. Most people who contract it are first treated with antibiotics after presenting with the typical symptoms, and only a few days later do the test results confirm the presumed diagnosis. The riskiest situation is exposure to plague and then quickly traveling to some other location where plague is rarely seen, and doctors at the destination do not know to look at the symptoms as possibly plague, and to tentatively treat for plague before testing confirms the diagnosis. Medical groups in New Mexico have several time done public awareness programs using the tag line: “Land of the flea, home of the plague.” https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
  > Land of the flea, home of the plague That sounds like a much catchier slogan for tourism than the current "Here, Every True Adventure Has a Story". https://www.newmexico.org/ https://www.newmexico.org/
- forkexec 7y ago
  Yep. And hantavirus is carried by rodents, rather than fleas, mostly west of the Mississippi in many states. Actually, there are about a half dozen terrible, rodent-borne human-transmissible diseases at this link (except Lassa is in Africa, not the US that I know of): https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html
- peter303 7y ago
  Prairie dogs in Colorado. A number of pet dogs and a human owner or two get it each year. If recognized early, antibiotics work fine.
- honestoHeminway 7y ago
  Imagine the plague becoming multi-resistent. World Comeback Tour ensues.
JoeAltmaier 7y ago
Don't have to go that far to find it: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-found-in-new-mexico-again.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-found-i...
LessDmesg 7y ago
> why is it still a threat? Because backwards savages. Same reason the Chinese are killing off lots of animals (tigers, pangolins, bears) to extinction: primitive beliefs in "traditional medicine". Eating pangolin's testicles is going to make you a Casanova in bed, yeah baby, you just forget this whole XXIst century thing now!
- ken47 7y ago
  Nice illogical, racist rant. In case you don't understand science (and it seems like you don't), the bubonic plague doesn't care what its victims' beliefs are. "In 2015, 16 people in the Western United States developed plague, including 2 cases in Yosemite National Park.[20] These US cases usually occur in rural northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague
  - 29athrowaway 7y ago
    Indeed, the tone is pretty bad. The usage of exotic ingredients in traditional medicine is real, but the "aphrodisiac" thing is mostly a myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hard-truth-about-the-rhino-horn-aphrodisiac-market/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hard-truth-ab...
    - LessDmesg 7y ago
      I was using it as an example. The fact that they pay poachers to supposedly heal their livers or joints or whatnot doesn't change anything: Chinese traditional medicine is still cruel, pointless and frankly based on primitive animistic beliefs from the stone age. How it can co-exist with modern-day industry in China is beyond me, but it's an important factor in the decline of lots of animals. And you don't see any greenies protest Chinese medicine, they care only about carbon dioxide nowadays.
      - 29athrowaway 7y ago
walterkrankheit 7y ago
That's a worrying bit of information... Bubonic still around in times of coronavirus.
- vikramkr 7y ago
  I mean, bubonic has been been around for a while, and as far as threats go it's not exactly the highest on the list. Cholera, malaria, influenza, etc are all quite a bit more dangerous to society, as is coronavirus while it's actively spreading.

35 years ago I dated a Continental airlines stewardess who told me as a young girl she was diagnosed with the bubonic plague and treated. They never discovered where she picked it up as a young girl in Texas.

onetimemanytime 7y ago
did she tell before or after :) ...? I know, it's just an infection, but now that's a conversation starter

dmckeon 7y ago

The plague is endemic in fleas on rodents and small wild animals in the US Southwest. Most people who contract it are first treated with antibiotics after presenting with the typical symptoms, and only a few days later do the test results confirm the presumed diagnosis. The riskiest situation is exposure to plague and then quickly traveling to some other location where plague is rarely seen, and doctors at the destination do not know to look at the symptoms as possibly plague, and to tentatively treat for plague before testing confirms the diagnosis. Medical groups in New Mexico have several time done public awareness programs using the tag line: “Land of the flea, home of the plague.” https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
> Land of the flea, home of the plague That sounds like a much catchier slogan for tourism than the current "Here, Every True Adventure Has a Story". https://www.newmexico.org/ https://www.newmexico.org/
forkexec 7y ago
Yep. And hantavirus is carried by rodents, rather than fleas, mostly west of the Mississippi in many states. Actually, there are about a half dozen terrible, rodent-borne human-transmissible diseases at this link (except Lassa is in Africa, not the US that I know of): https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html
peter303 7y ago
Prairie dogs in Colorado. A number of pet dogs and a human owner or two get it each year. If recognized early, antibiotics work fine.
honestoHeminway 7y ago
Imagine the plague becoming multi-resistent. World Comeback Tour ensues.

JoeAltmaier 7y ago

Don't have to go that far to find it: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-found-in-new-mexico-again.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-found-i...

LessDmesg 7y ago

> why is it still a threat? Because backwards savages. Same reason the Chinese are killing off lots of animals (tigers, pangolins, bears) to extinction: primitive beliefs in "traditional medicine". Eating pangolin's testicles is going to make you a Casanova in bed, yeah baby, you just forget this whole XXIst century thing now!

ken47 7y ago
Nice illogical, racist rant. In case you don't understand science (and it seems like you don't), the bubonic plague doesn't care what its victims' beliefs are. "In 2015, 16 people in the Western United States developed plague, including 2 cases in Yosemite National Park.[20] These US cases usually occur in rural northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, southern Colorado, California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague
- 29athrowaway 7y ago
  Indeed, the tone is pretty bad. The usage of exotic ingredients in traditional medicine is real, but the "aphrodisiac" thing is mostly a myth. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hard-truth-about-the-rhino-horn-aphrodisiac-market/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-hard-truth-ab...
  - LessDmesg 7y ago
    I was using it as an example. The fact that they pay poachers to supposedly heal their livers or joints or whatnot doesn't change anything: Chinese traditional medicine is still cruel, pointless and frankly based on primitive animistic beliefs from the stone age. How it can co-exist with modern-day industry in China is beyond me, but it's an important factor in the decline of lots of animals. And you don't see any greenies protest Chinese medicine, they care only about carbon dioxide nowadays.
    - 29athrowaway 7y ago

walterkrankheit 7y ago

That's a worrying bit of information... Bubonic still around in times of coronavirus.

vikramkr 7y ago
I mean, bubonic has been been around for a while, and as far as threats go it's not exactly the highest on the list. Cholera, malaria, influenza, etc are all quite a bit more dangerous to society, as is coronavirus while it's actively spreading.