On Jul. 9, 2024, Public health officials in Pueblo County, Colorado announced a human case of the plague has been confirmed. The Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE) is working with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to investigate the case, according to a news statement.

No specific information was provided about the person who contracted the disease or the type of plague it is—bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic.

The plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis) is transmitted by fleas and cycles naturally among wild rodents. Plague occurs naturally in the western United States where it circulates among wild rodents and other animals. It can infect humans and their pets. People get plague from bites of infected fleas, by touching or skinning infected animals, or inhaling droplets from the cough of an infected person or animal.

In terms of signs, CDC reports that the most common symptom is the “rapid development of a swollen and painful lymph gland called a bubo. A known flea bite or the presence of a bubo may help a doctor to consider plague as a cause of the illness,” the federal agency reports.⁵

People who live or traveled to the western US or any places where the plague is endemic and are experiencing symptoms of the plague should seek medical care immediately, CDC writes on its site. The plague is diagnosed with a test and can be treated with antibiotics.