A person in northern Arizona has died from a case of pneumonic plague, local health officials said.
The unidentified patient, from Coconino County, showed up to the Flagstaff Medical Center Emergency Department and died there the same day, Northern Arizona Healthcare said in a statement. It is unclear when the death occurred.
The hospital noted that “appropriate initial management” and “attempts to provide life-saving resuscitation” was performed, but “the patient did not recover.”
Rapid diagnostic testing led to a presumptive diagnosis of Yersinia pestis.
Between one and two thousand cases of the plague are reported globally every year. Being in Arizona, they may have gotten it from being in contact with black-tailed prairie dogs.
Well thats good at least, another commenter mentioned this guy must have been sitting on it for weeks to die the same day he got admitted. We can breathe for a few more weeks.