The state's first case of the bacterial disease in four years has left it looking for a cause and if there's an ongoing community risk.
The state's Department of Health said the unidentified Lincoln County resident succumbed to the illness after being hospitalized. This was the first plague death in New Mexico since 2020 — when the state saw four cases — and its first human case since 2021.
The department said it's conducting outreach to area residents and doing an environmental assessment to look for ongoing risks, while details of how the New Mexico man contracted the plague and why it affected him so severely are not known. It's generally spread to humans through the bite of an infected flea, but people can also become infected through direct contact with infected tissues or sick humans or animals, including rodents, wildlife and pets. The CDC says humans can also get the plague through inhaling respiratory droplets containing the bacteria.When infected, a patient typically develops a fever, headache, chills, weakness and one or more swollen lymph nodes within two to eight days, the CDC says.
The plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, preferably within 24 hours of first symptoms. Diagnosed patients will be hospitalized, and in cases of progression to more serious forms, they will be medically isolated to prevent further spread.
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