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The California Department of Public Health has confirmed the first case of plague in the State after almost five years. The case was reported at South Lake Tahoe, as per media reports.
A resident of California tested positive for the bubonic plague on Monday. This comes a month after China reported its first case of the plague in July.
The plague had claimed thousands of lives in the middle ages. However, the advancement of medical science has successfully contained its spread over the decades.
The health officials believe that the resident from South Lake Tahoe may have gotten the plague from an infected flea while walking his dog in the Tahoe Keys area.
The symptoms of the plague emerged two weeks after the person got exposed to it. The symptoms include fever, nausea, weakness, and varicose lymph nodes.
The last case was reported in California in 2015 when two people got infected with the disease after contracting the plague bacterium in the Yosemite National Park due to infected rodents and fleas.
Between 2016 and 2019, California officials had also found as many as 20 squirrels or chipmunks exposed to the plague bacterium.
El Dorado County Public Health Officer Dr Nancy Williams said, as cited in the CNN report,: “It's important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and/or camping in areas where wild rodents are present.”
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