Squirrels and Bubonic Plague

RustBeltCowgirl

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/squirrel-tests-positive-for-the-bubonic-plague-in-colorado/ar-BB16ImWf?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds

Just another thing to think about during our pandemic.

This is almost adding insult to injury with our current events.

LaurieLovesLearning

I think it is prairie dogs that are known to carry it as well.

Ferg

well the bunnies have it worse - rabbit hemorrhagic fever is literally at a 90% fatality rate and is spreading across the US. Also in AZ has jumped to wild rabbits. Very scary for both pet owners and rabbit meat farmers.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Ferg As much as that is bad, the bubonic plague can infect people. I think this is of more the concern that the squirrels themselves.

Torey

The CDC says that there is an average of 7 human cases of plague per year, caused primarily by animal bites or bites from fleas that have been living on infected animals. Mostly in the Western States. So it is more common than people realise, thinking it is a disease of the past. This is a link to an informative page at the CDC for anyone unfamiliar.

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/index.html

Ferg

@LaurieLovesLearning Oh, definitely. Except that the transmission rate for squirrel-transmitted Yersinia is rare, while currently the RHDV2 has jumped to native wild rabbit populations. This then affects the upstream populations, meaning that if predators that usually eat rabbits don't have food, they move to the next available source, or starve, which then leads to a cascade of issues, including an overage of things that eat the food we are trying to grow. Which could include things carrying fleas carrying Yersinia ('the plague') and Hantavirus.

The prairie dog population, as you mentioned, also carries Yersinia, transmitted by a flea, and has made its way to urban areas. It's been wreaking havoc on Indigenous Peoples for a few years now (like decades), along with Hantavirus, also transmitted by a flea and carried by deer mice. Neither of these have reached the level of spread that RHDV2 has. Now, if you aren't something that eats rabbits (which include homesteaders and meat producers for humans in the the US, as rabbits, like chicken, are easy to breed and provide a cost-effective source of meat), sure, it's no big deal. However, there are a lot of things that do eat rabbits (see parenthetical) so it actually is a big deal.

RustBeltCowgirl

Didn't mean to get anyone riled up by posting this. I was more or less looking at all the things going on. Mother Nature has been really ripping the last couple of months.

Locust swarms in Africa, major elephant die off from currently unknown causes, RHDV2, squirrels testing positive for bubonic plaque.... since @Ferg brought it up, hantavirus might show up again. We are just getting slammed.

GardenMama

I dont necessarily think that animals carrying the plague is new. From what I understand, it hasn't ever actually gone anywhere and there are still a handful of human cases yearly.

Sometimes I wonder if it's less all the things happening and more we are just acutely more aware of all the things right now because of everything else going on

Ferg

@RustBeltCowgirl It's actually good to have discussions about all the stuff going on. And you are right - there is a LOT of stuff going on nowadays. I think, as @GardenMama mentioned, that stuff is here, it pops up, it slows up, but that nowdays we are more aware. Being aware is a good thing.

I was in infectious diseases for a long time. The thing about these pathogens is that they really never do go away; if there is no host and a place to hide, they go dormant. Things like Smallpox which has supposedly been 'eradicated' are still frozen away and once those areas thaw, it'll probably be back, since we no longer vaccinate for it. It's the cycle of life on a planet that is one huge interconnected web of life. It's terrifying and fascinating at the same time.