A man died in Arizona of the pulmonary plague, a rare and contagious disease, announced on Friday the health authorities of this American state cited by the Associated Press agency, information identified by The Parisian.
Neither the age nor the identity of the victim was published. This death would be the first linked to this rare disease since 2007 in this state located in the southwest of the United States.
An almost always deadly disease without treatment
According to federal health authorities, around seven cases of plague are identified per year in the United States. The cases appear, for the most part, in states of the western territory, as in New Mexico, Colorado, California, Oregon or even Nevada.
As the World Health Organization (WHO) recalls, the plague is a bacterial disease due to “Yersinia Pestis”, which is usually found in small mammals and the chips that parasitize them. Infected subjects often have symptoms after an incubation period from one to seven days.
Our file on the plague
This rare disease can be very serious in humans, with a lethal rate of 30 % to 60 % for the bubonic form. It is almost always fatal in its pulmonary form, in the absence of medical treatment, specifies the organization.
Antibiotic treatment being effective against the bacteria responsible for plague, diagnosis and early treatment can save lives.
The three main endemic countries are currently Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru.
