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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 25, 2007 |
CONTACT Mark W. Salley |
Plague Confirmed in Denver Cat DeathDENVER--State health officials Friday confirmed plague as the cause of death for a domestic cat in Denver. "While a case of cat plague is a public health concern, this is not an uncommon finding in areas where plague is circulating," said John Pape, an epidemiologist who specializes in animal-related diseases for the Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Plague was identified last year in wild animals from 25 Colorado counties, according to Pape. Last year veterinarians diagnosed 23 plague-infected cats, which are highly susceptible to plague and are usually infected from eating rodents. Cats with plague become extremely ill and develop an illness very similar to people with plague. Symptoms include high fever, severe lethargy and swollen lymph nodes. Infected cats will look and act very ill and usually die without treatment. Owners are advised to contact their veterinarian if they see these signs in a cat, especially cats known to hunt or eat rodents. Dogs are generally resistant to plague but can bring infected fleas into the home. "The cat's death reinforces what we have been advising to pet owners - of both cats and dogs - to keep their pets away from dead squirrels or other dead rodents," said Pape. "Cat owners in areas where plague is occurring are advised to keep their animals confined indoors or to the yard. When they are roaming freely in the neighborhood, you have no control of what they are doing or eating." According to Pape, "Plague is a bacteria that is maintained in various species of rodents and rabbits and is transmitted by fleas. When an infected rodent becomes sick and dies, its fleas can carry the infection to other warm-blooded animals, including humans. People also can be exposed through direct contact with infected rodents, rabbits and cats. Last year there were four confirmed human cases of plague in Colorado, all of them received treatment and recovered." Most human plague cases result from infected fleabites. Less commonly people are infected by direct contact with blood from an infected animal. People can be infected by cats via bites, scratches, exposure to blood, pus draining from an abscess or rarely through airborne spread from close contact with a cat that has developed pneumonia. If your pet has contacted a dead squirrel, contact your veterinarian to ensure the pet is adequately protected from fleas, which carry the plague. A cat that becomes ill with symptoms of plague should be isolated to reduce its contact with people and other animals. A veterinarian should see the animal immediately if plague is suspected. People should not directly handle any dead rodents they find and should keep their pets away from them. If a dead rodent is found, do not handle the animal directly. Use gloves and place in a plastic bag. Contact the Colorado Health Education Line for the Public (CO-HELP) at 1-877-462-2911 to report a dead rodent or rabbit. People become very ill two-to-six days after being infected, with the following symptoms:
According to Pape, 57 cases of human plague, nine (15.7 percent) of which were fatal, have been confirmed in Colorado since 1957. In 2004, three human cases of plague were reported, including one fatality. Two of these cases involved hunters infected while cleaning rabbits and another person infected by a fleabite while camping. Three cases were reported in 2005 and 2006; none of these cases were fatal. Most were infected by fleabites near their homes. Pape offered the following precautions for Denver citizens:
Additional information on plague can be found on the department's Web site: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/dc/Zoonosis/plague/index.html . Contact CO-HELP at 1-877-462-2911 to report a dead rodent or rabbit. ---30--- |
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