THURSDAY, Sept. 6, 2012 — The bubonic plague may have wiped out a third of Europe's population in the 14th century, but 7-year-old Sierra Jane Downing, who contracted the infection once called the "Black Death" while camping in southwest Colorado, should be heading home from the hospital within a week, the Associated Press reports.
The grade-school student from Pagosa Springs, Colo., should ace at least one chapter of her future high school European history class, pundits have joked.
Today doctors can treat bubonic plague, which occurs in fewer than 3,000 people a year globally, using antibiotics — but success hinges on catching it early. And with symptoms that mimic the flu, diagnosing the now-rare illness can be a challenge for doctors who have never seen a case in person.
Sierra Jane's doctors at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver hadn't.
When Sierra Jane first felt sick, it looked a lot like the flu — until she had a seizure. That's when her parents rushed her to the hospital in Pagosa Springs. Her body temperature had reached 107 degrees. She was soon flown to Denver. There, the hospital team's quick thinking in evaluating Sierra Jane's symptoms and recent camping trip led them to the diagnosis.
Bubonic plague is transmitted through animals, usually through bites from infected fleas or direct contact with infected animals, most commonly wild rodents like rats, squirrels, chipmunks, and prairie dogs. Sierra Jane's mother, Darcy, thinks insects near a dead squirrel Sierra Jane wanted to bury may have infected her daughter, according to the AP.
It's been a summer of scary headlines about infections and viruses, from West Nile virus deaths and the hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite National Park, to flesh-eating bacteria and Legionnaires' disease.
But despite two other confirmed and one probable case of bubonic plague in the United States this year so far, the AP reports that according to health officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this isn't a bad year for the plague.
Living within or close to natural environments where plague may thrive among wild rodents increases a human's risk for contracting it, according to a study published in the July 2012 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases. The method of prevention? Stay away from rodents.
CREDIT: Jack Dempsey/AP Photo