A dog potentially exposed more than 100 people to black plague in Colorado
Enlarge / The dog is thought to have caught the plague from a dead prairie dog. (credit: Getty | Craig F. Walker)
At least 116 people and 46 animals in Colorado were potentially exposed to the black plague after veterinarians struggled to diagnose a critically ill dog back in 2017.
The unusual case prompted health experts to issue an equally unusual-and perhaps startling-warning. That is, that dogs in the US may contract the deadly bacterial infection at any time of the year, and the signs may be hard to spot.
"[P]neumonic plague, although rare, should be considered in dogs that have fever and respiratory signs with potential exposure in disease-endemic areas, regardless of season and lobar [lung] distribution," the Colorado health experts concluded. They published details of the case and their warning this week in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
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