Local Plague Death Confirmed

A Santa Fe woman has died of plague, putting health officials on edge about the potential for the disease to spread this summer in Northern New Mexico, tests over the weekend confirmed.

Dr. Joan Baumbach, the deputy state epidemiologist, tells SFR that it's the health department's policy not to release information on the location of where the 52-year-old woman likely contracted plague.

So far in 2015, eight animals have died of the disease in Santa Fe, Torrance and Bernalillo counties, tests indicate. 

"We know that it is circulating and we are concerned this year for sure," Baumbach says. "We are concerned every year, but this year we are seeing a lot of activity already and one very unfortunate fatality. Some years we have more than others."

In 2014, two people died of the plague. In 2013, that number doubled to four humans; in 2012, there was only one human fatality, and in 2011 there were two fatalities. There were no cases in 2010.

This year, in addition to the woman who died, the state has confirmed three dogs, three cats and two rabbits contracted plague.

Baumbach says the department wants residents and visitors to pay particular attention to rodents that can carry fleas, the bite of which is the most common way humans contract the plague. Also, keep pets from roaming free, or if that's impossible, make sure you're using appropriate flea control products.

"Really be aware if you are living up in this area to think about plague and to really protect yourself and your pets," she says.

Sudden fever or chills and swelling in the groin are common symptoms of a human case, she says, and those symptoms should prompt an immediate visit to a health-care provider.

"It would not at all be overdoing it to be seen in urgent care with those symptoms if that is available to you," she says.

Three kinds of plague are present in New Mexico: bubonic, which settles into the lymph notes; septicemic, in the blood; and pneumonic, in the lungs. The third form is the only one in which the disease can be passed from human to human.

While Baumbach says the department can't release much information about the recent fatality, a Friday news release said that "because the patient had pneumonia, health care providers and other close contacts of the patient who have been determined to have been exposed are taking preventive antibiotic therapy."

Santa Fe Reporter