New Mexico
New Mexico man dies of plague in state's 1st fatality since 2020: Officials
A New Mexico man has died from plague in the state’s first human fatality since 2020, according to health officials.
The man lived in Lincoln County — located in the southeastern part of the state — and was hospitalized from the disease before dying, the New Mexico Department of Health said in a press release last week.
No other identifying information about the man was available, including his name, age or race/ethnicity.
Plague is treatable with commonly available antibiotics and the odds of full recovery are higher if a patient seeks medical care early, according to the CDC.
The NMDOH said staff members are reaching out to residents of the area and will be conducting an environmental assessment in the community to determine risk.
The last human plague case in the state was a resident of Torrance County in 2021, according to the health department. In 2020, there were four human cases including one in Santa Fe County, two in Torrance County and the fatal case in Rio Arriba County.
Although plague is often associated with killing millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages, it is not an eradicated disease, State Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Erin Phipps told ABC News.
“This is the same bacteria that caused the Black Death that decimated the European population, and it is indeed still present. It does still circulate in the present day,” she said.
Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It naturally occurs in the western U.S., particularly in rural and semi-rural areas of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It typically affects wild rodents including wood rats, rock squirrels, ground squirrels, mice, prairie dogs and chipmunks. Humans can contract the disease by being bitten by a rodent flea carrying the bacterium or by coming into direct contact with an animal infected with plague, which may include pets.
Phipps said there are three types of plague: bubonic plague, which is associated with enlarged lymph nodes called buboes; septicemic plague, which occurs when the bacteria enter the bloodstream; and pneumonic plague, which is when the infection enters the lungs.
Other symptoms typically include headache, fever, chills and weakness.
“Bubonic plague has the enlarged lymph nodes but otherwise, the symptoms [of plague] are similar to several other diseases,” Phipps said. “And that’s what some of the challenge is. Because it’s rare, it’s not always on people’s radar.”
She said this is why diagnosis from a trained physician is extremely important to receive treatment.
Before antibiotics, two-thirds of people who contracted plague died of the disease, according to Phipps. Currently, about 10% of people die from plague, she said.
To reduce the risk of plague, the NMDOH recommends cleaning up areas near the home where rodents could live, preventing pets from roaming and hunting, putting away pet food to not attract rodents and keeping hay and wood as far away from the house as possible.
Additionally, have a sick pet examined immediately by a veterinarian and talk to your doctor if you have signs of unexplained illness.
“People don’t realize that [plague] is not a disease of the past,” Phipps said. “We get cases in the western United States every year. We hope by increasing awareness, we can encourage early diagnosis and agreement.”
She added: “It’s not something to be overly anxious about, but by ensuring it stays on the radar, it will help … people take measures if they live in wild areas or near wild rodent populations, especially with indoor and outdoor pets.”
The news of the New Mexico man’s death comes just a month after an Oregon resident contracted plague, likely from their cat, according to health officials in the state.
Copyright © 2024 ABC News Internet Ventures.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The Larry P. Abraham Agri-Nature Center in Los Ranchos was created to be a space for the community to share agricultural resources and learn. Now, Corrales wants in on the action.
“The Agri-Nature Center provides a lot for the community and provides valuable agricultural education, demonstration of agricultural techniques that work well in our environment in our climate, and helps support local businesses at the same time,” Agri-Nature Center Agricultural Program Director William Carleton said.
The center focuses on home-grown foods, sustainable farming, regenerative agriculture through food preservation, and education through hands-on learning. With programs like animal husbandry, water conservation, research into new agricultural technology, and growers’ markets.
“They have all these workshops, land set aside for certain type of gardens, agricultural activities, cooking, and we don’t currently have something like that here in Corrales,” Dean Sherer said with the Corrales Historical Society.
The goal is to educate people and get them involved in more sustainable practices of agriculture to promote more agricultural activities.
Both the Agri-Nature Center and the people in Corrales believe that if they can expand by adding more of these centers in the state, they can become hubs for more and more New Mexicans to get involved in and learn from. “The Agri-Nature Center serves the residents of Los Ranchos, but also people throughout the metro area and beyond,” Carleton said. “This past year, we served 46 different zip codes in New Mexico at our workshops and events.”
Two of their programs in particular have been so popular, they’re looking to expand them. Such as a community garden started this year. This is one of the programs Corrales is looking to replicate in its own community.
“There’s been so much positive feedback with the community garden, and the idea would be to expand plots,” Carleton said. “Right now we have 30, which filled up this year.”
Another popular program they’re looking to expand is a demonstration kitchen, which up until now has only been used for workshops. Going forward, they want to make the equipment available for people to use. Such as freeze-drying foods.
“I see it as a community resource for learning how important agriculture is for us in New Mexico, and if we can sustain it in a better way, if we can learn new techniques to help our gardens grow better and larger,” Sherer said.
This morning temperatures have fallen into the low 40s in Albuquerque with mostly clear skies. Today, mild to warm high temperatures are expected in New Mexico with sunshine throughout most of the day in the Duke City before bit more cloud coverage comes in from the west. In addition, an approaching upper-level low pressure system will push into western New Mexico and southern Colorado this afternoon bringing the return of rainfall and mountain snow.
Western New Mexico is expected to experience showers and the potential for storms, while higher elevations in southwest Colorado, and parts of the northern mountains, will experience snowfall. The National Weather Service (NWS) will issue a Winter Weather Advisory in La Plata County and a portion of the San Juan Mountains from 3 pm today until 8 am on Monday. This will be primarily for gusty winds and the accumulating snowfall in higher elevations. This storm system will also bring breezy to windy conditions across the state today and primarily to the central mountain chain on Monday.
After tomorrow, another low-pressure system will move through on Thursday of this week. A surge of moisture will accompany that storm system and bring additional rainfall and mountain snow to the Land of Enchantment and southern Colorado. Moisture ahead of that system will also bring more rain chances across the region on Tuesday and Wednesday. High temperatures will also continue to drop through this week. Have a great Sunday!
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