Plague Causes Health Scare in United States
Yersinia Pestis virus under an electron microscope – the source of Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague
Last October, biologist Eric York stumbled upon the carcass of a female mountain lion in the picturesque Grand Canyon. She was a female he had been tracking for years, so her seemingly mysterious death was a concern to him. The mountain lion showed no outward signs of harm, only sporting a bloody nose.
Being curious about the cause of the lion’s death prompted York to haul the lion back to his garage to perform the autopsy (apparently, the Grand Canyon lacks a mammalian forensics lab). On November 2, York was found dead on his couch by a roommate. Experts can only guess that York cut the lion open and inhaled plague fumes, and that was what lead to his death. The plague, a mass killer in the Middle ages in Europe, usually lives in rodents, so York would have no reason to suspect the lion had encountered one, as lions usually stalk bigger game. But is there a risk for the United States to experience plague, and where do experts think the next plague will derive from?
How Does the Plague Travel?
A little background on plague is provided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC, “plague is an infectious disease that affects animals and humans. It is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. This bacterium is found in rodents and their fleas and occurs in many areas of the world, including the United States.” Pneumonic plague, which is likely the plague that York contracted from the mountain lion, is spread from person to person in the air. You have to be in direct or close contact with a person or animal to contract plague in this way. Bubonic plague is considered to be the most common form of plague, and occurs when an infected flea bites a person or somehow the infection is able to get into an opening in the skin. Fortunately, bubonic plague can’t spread from person to person.
An Upside to the Plague Discovery
While this plague infecting York is nothing less than tragic and definitely scary, there is an upside to this happening. Because experts believe the plague is at play, there are now teams of biologists working with the CDC in the Grand Canyon, combing highly and low to look for other signs of infected animals or other signs of plague. The Grand Canyon is a huge tourist attraction, bringing in 276 million people annually from all around the world, and ensuring their safety is a top priority.
The Plague and Threats of Other Diseases: A Major Health Issue for You?
According to a report by the non-profit organization Trust for America’s Health, yes, you should be worried. A report entitled “Germs Go Global: Why Emerging Infectious Diseases Are a Threat to America” shows that outbreaks of new and resurgent infectious diseases, many of which “originate overseas,” kill more than 170,000 people in the USA each year. This data was collected from National Intelligence Estimates, and even goes as far as to say that if a global pandemic or bio-terror attack were to occur then the death toll would skyrocket even higher.
Some experts believe that infectious diseases should be, if they aren’t already, a matter of national security. “The three deadliest events in human history were all infectious diseases,” says medical historian David Morens of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “The 1918-1919 flu killed 50 million to 100 million people. The Black Death killed 25 million people, and AIDS has killed 25 million or more.”
What Is Being Done to Address This?
Before you lock yourself in a basement with oxygen tanks and full body bio-hazard suits, rest assured that scientists are not taking these threats lying down. Google.org, Google’s philanthropic branch, is donating money left and right to organizations dedicated to researching infectious diseases. According to a report by USA Today, these include:
| • The Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, $5.5 million of an $11 million grant co-funded by the Skoll Foundation to collect and analyze blood from humans and animals in infectious-disease hot spots in Africa and Asia to spot outbreaks before they start. |  |
| • The Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, $2.5 million to support Lipkin’s effort to speed up the identification of new disease-causing microbes. |  |
| • The Woods Hole (Mass.) Research Center, $2 million to use satellites to map forest loss and human encroachment into animal terrain. |  |
| • ProMed Mail and Healthmap, $3 million to join forces and use the Internet to track and map diseases. ProMed was founded in the mid-1990s by members of a biological weapons defense group. Now sponsored by the International Society for Infectious Diseases, ProMed sends out daily alerts on scores of outbreaks. Healthmap scours the Internet for news of outbreaks and posts their coordinates on a map. |  |
In the interim, stay aware of current news and events. Don’t bury your head in the sand-read articles, educate yourself, but don’t make yourself sick with worry. Always make sure you and your family have regular checkups with your doctor, and feel free to ask them if you are concerned about anything you hear on the news. If you worry you’ve come into contact with any infectious animals of fleas, get to a hospital immediately. Seeking medical attention if worried should always be the first course of action.
