Man dies of bubonic plague sparking urgent hunt for source of killer disease

A person in northern Arizona has died after contracting pneumonic plague - a highly contagious and deadly form of the disease once known as the Black Death. Health officials in Coconino County confirmed the death late last week following test results showing the patient had been infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the plague.

The individual, who has not been publicly identified, arrived at the Flagstaff Medical Center emergency department with symptoms and died there the same day. It is unclear how long they had been unwell or how they contracted the infection. Northern Arizona Healthcare said doctors provided "appropriate initial management" and made "attempts to provide life-saving resuscitation," but the patient "did not recover."

Rapid testing led to a presumptive diagnosis of plague, and follow-up testing by public health authorities later confirmed the pneumonic form of the illness.

The death is the first recorded case of fatal pneumonic plague in the county since 2007, when a resident became infected after contact with a dead animal. The case has prompted a renewed warning from local and state officials.

Pneumonic plague is the most dangerous of the three major forms of plague.

Unlike the better-known bubonic version - which typically spreads through flea bites and causes painful, swollen lymph nodes - pneumonic plague attacks the lungs and can be transmitted directly from person to person via respiratory droplets.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pneumonic plague can develop either from untreated bubonic or septicemic plague or from inhaling infectious droplets coughed by an infected person or animal.

It is the only form that spreads through the air and can be rapidly fatal without swift treatment.

Though often associated with the devastation of medieval Europe, during which an estimated 25 to 50 million people died, plague has never fully disappeared.

An average of seven human plague cases are still reported each year in the United States, mostly in the rural West, and the illness remains endemic in parts of Africa and Asia.

In most cases, the disease is treatable with antibiotics if caught early. But delayed diagnosis can dramatically increase the risk of death, particularly with the pneumonic strain.

It remains unclear how the Arizona patient became infected, but local officials have confirmed that the case is not linked to a recent prairie dog die-off northeast of Flagstaff, which had raised alarms earlier in the week. Such animal deaths are considered a key warning sign of plague activity in the region.

The area in question, located on private land, is now being monitored. Flea samples have been collected, and officials plan to treat burrows to limit any further spread.

Coconino County Board of Supervisors Chair Patrice Horstman said: "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased. We are keeping them in our thoughts during this difficult time." Out of respect for the family, no further details about the case will be released.

The hospital urged the public to seek immediate care if they develop signs of a serious infection - and to wear a mask at emergency departments to help prevent the spread of airborne illness.