The Plague: history, symptoms, and prevention

Written by: Dakotta Hargrave

The plague that killed many, now near Lake County.

The Plague, a disease that has always been around but has recently been resurfacing near Lake County. It originally was around during the mid 1300’s and believed to be started by rodents, like rats, that had fleas. When the fleas moved from the rodents they would go to any human and infect them, since there wasn’t proper hygiene in the 1300’s they had gotten diseases easily. 

The Plague is contracted by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis. Yersinia Pestis primarily affects small animals and or rodents. The spread of it is fairly easy, by getting too close to an infected animal or by getting bitten by an infected flea from said animal. People who get the plague nowadays are usually hiking or camping and are unknowingly bitten by an infected flea. In California the plague occurs in foothills, plateaus, mountains, and along the coast. People who live in such close contact with rats are at great risk of getting infected from possibly infected rodents. An average of seven human plague cases have been reported each year, with almost 80% of United States plague cases having the bubonic form.

There are three different types of the plague; The Bubonic Plague, The Septicemic Plague, and The Pneumonic Plague. They’re similar with certain symptoms like fevers and weakness. The Bubonic Plague symptoms consist of fevers, headaches, chills, weakness, and one or more swollen and painful lymph nodes. The Septicemic Plague has fevers, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, shock, and possible bleeding into the skin and other organs. Lastly The Pneumonic Plague symptoms are fevers, headaches, weakness, rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and sometimes bloody or watery mucous. Each Plague affects a part of the human body, The Bubonic Plague affects the lymph nodes, The Septicemic Plague is an infection throughout the body, and The Pneumonic Plague infects the person's lungs. Symptoms can show up within two weeks of exposure to an infected animal or flea. 

There are precautions that can be taken to help not get infected, even with antibiotics being available to help rid the infection. Some precautions are, avoiding all contact with wild animals, not touching sick or dead animals, do not camp or sleep near animal burrows, listen to warning signs and be on the look out for them, don't feed wild animals, store food properly, wear long pants to avoid the chance of being bitten by fleas, apply insect repellent, leave pets at home or on a leash, don't allow pets to go towards dead or sick animals, and make sure your pets are protected by flea control products.