Three more cases of rare human plague found in Colorado

Three more people in Colorado have been diagnosed with the plague after coming in contact with an infected dog whose owner contracted a life-threatening form of the disease, state health officials said on Friday. In all, four people were infected with the disease from the same source, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a statement. Last week the department said a man in an eastern Colorado county whose dog died of the plague had been diagnosed with pneumonic plague, a rare and serious form of the disease. The man remains hospitalized, but authorities have not released his condition. The bacteria that causes plague occurs naturally in the western United States, primarily in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infected canine in Colorado likely contracted the disease from prairie dogs or rabbits, which are the primary hosts for fleas that carry the bacteria. When an infected animal dies, the fleas spread the disease when they find another host...more