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United States: Decrease in Bubonic Plague Cases May Be an Effect of Climate Change
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| Contributor | Homegrown Democrat |
| Last Edited | Homegrown Democrat Sep 21, 2010 03:46pm |
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| Category | Study |
| Author | DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Monday, September 20, 2010 09:45:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Global warming may have one minor but previously unknown benefit, scientists said this month: it may be cutting down cases of bubonic plague in the United States.
About 10 to 20 Americans catch plague each year, and 1 to 3 die of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nowadays, most cases are in the Four Corners area, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet, and most victims live in rodent-infested rural housing. The plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, lives in the blood of prairie dogs and ferrets, and the fleas that infest those colonies can transfer it to squirrels, rats and mice, who like to live close to humans and their flea-carrying pets.
A study in this month’s issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene tracked climatic conditions in 195 counties in 13 Western states, from Washington to Texas, that reported even one plague case since 1950. |
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