Bubonic plague forgotten, not gone

**Dark Lion** · 19th May 2011 06:01 AM

Plague may be forgotten, but it's not gone.

A 58-year-old New Mexico man was hospitalized for a week after showing up at an emergency room in April with a high fever and pain in his lower abdomen and groin, the Sante Fe New Mexican reported.

The New Mexico Department of Health said the man, whose name wasn't released, represented the first case of plague in the U.S. this year. A blood sample from the man, a resident of Sante Fe County, tested positive for the disease last week.

He's doing fine now, authorities said. They're still investigating how he may have come down with the illness. Bites from infected fleas are a common source of the disease.

New Mexico, it turns out, leads the U.S. in human plague cases. Sixty-five of the 134 plague cases reported in the U.S. since 1990 have been in New Mexico, according to a 2010 health department report on infectious disease in the state. On average, between 10 and 20 human cases are reported in the U.S. each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Plague Infects New Mexico Man : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

So the Black Death still remains.

**jackalope** · 19th May 2011 06:21 AM

Wow, I didn't know it still existed.

**Dark Lion** · 19th May 2011 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by jackalope

Wow, I didn't know it still existed.

I knew it did, but I am surprised that it is found here in the states

**Divine Wind** · 19th May 2011 06:46 AM

It's curable and there's even a vaccine. Yersinia pestis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Dark Lion** · 19th May 2011 06:57 AM

Originally Posted by Divine Wind

It's curable and there's even a vaccine. Yersinia pestis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know, I just felt like saying "The Black Death Still Remains"

That'd make a badass song title

**Divine Wind** · 19th May 2011 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by Dark Lion

I know, I just felt like saying "The Black Death Still Remains"

That'd make a badass song title

Yes it would. Something these guys might write and sing: Anathema

**Dark Lion** · 19th May 2011 07:12 AM

Actually I was thinking more long the lines of Dimmu Borgir or some other black metal act. After all the whole corpse paint thing was inspired by the Plague

Corpse paint - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Divine Wind** · 19th May 2011 07:28 AM

I was watching a National Geo program yesterday about "the Little Ice Age" which had its beginnings in the 13th Century. Cold weather drove more people indoors for extended periods of time creating the potential for quickly spreading disease. Coincidentally, that was when the waves of black death spread among the European peoples.

**Dark Lion** · 19th May 2011 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by Divine Wind

I was watching a National Geo program yesterday about "the Little Ice Age" which had its beginnings in the 13th Century. Cold weather drove more people indoors for extended periods of time creating the potential for quickly spreading disease. Coincidentally, that was when the waves of black death spread among the European peoples.

Interesting. That also falls in line with the fact that the Plague made its first appearance in my true homeland, Norway, in 1349

**Rasselas** · 19th May 2011 08:36 AM

Not only does the the Bubonic Pleague exist in New Mexico, it's even been found in animals on the outskirts of Albuquerque, which abuts a wilderness area in the Sandi Mountains. They sell tee-shirts:

New Mexico:

Land of the flea,
Home of the Plague.