Why the plague is an environmental issue

Plague
* Plague is a bacterial disease of rodents that can be spread to humans and other animals by infected fleas.
* Plague has three forms: bubonic plague (infection of the lymph glands), septicemia plague (infection of the blood), and pneumonic plague (infection of the lungs). Pneumonic plague can spread from person to person.
* People can get plague: by the bites of infected fleas; by direct contact with the tissues or body fluids of a plague-infected animal; by inhaling infectious airborne droplets from persons or animals with plague pneumonia; or by laboratory exposure to plague bacteria.
* Plague is treatable with antibiotics if detected early.
* Prevention consists of controlling rodent fleas, educating the public and the medical community in places where plague occurs, and using preventive medicines and vaccines as appropriate.

Where is plague found?
Plague is found in some semi-arid areas in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, South America, and North America. In the United States, most cases in humans occur in two regions: 1) northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado, and 2) California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada.

In the southwestern United States, rock squirrel fleas are the most common source of infection in people. In the Pacific states, California ground squirrel fleas are the most common source. Many other types of rodents -- including other ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, wood rats, wild mice, and voles -- suffer plague outbreaks and are occasional sources of human infection. Domesticates can be infected by fleas or by eating infected wild rodents and can be a direct source of infection to people. Dogs rarely suffer severe illness and have yet to be shown to be sources of infection for humans.

What is plague?
Plague is a disease of rodents that can be spread to humans another animals by infected fleas. In people, plague has three forms: Bubonic plague, infection of the lymph glands; septicemia plague, infection of the blood; and pneumonic plague, infection of the lungs. Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form because it can spread from person to person in airborne droplets.

What is the infectious agent that causes plague?
Perinea pests cause plague, a bacterium that is spread from rodent to rodent by infected fleas. Periodic outbreaks of plague kill large numbers of rodents (called a "die-off"). The risk of infection to humans and other animals in the area increases when the rodent hosts die and infected fleas look for other sources oxblood. --Directors of Health Promotion and Education