Man Who Saved Mouse from Being Eaten By Cat Catches Black Plague
58 replies, posted
[quote]
A man hospitalized in Bend is likely suffering from the plague, marking the fifth case in Oregon since 1995.
The unidentified man, who is in his 50s, fell ill several days after being bitten while trying to get a mouse away from a stray cat. The man is now being treated at St. Charles Medical Center-Bend, where he was listed in critical condition on Tuesday.
"This can be a serious illness," said Emilio DeBess, Oregon's public health veterinarian. "But it is treatable with antibiotics, and it's also preventable."
The Black Death raged through Europe during the Middle Ages, killing about a third of the population. Today, the disease is rare, but the bacteria have never disappeared.
The man, who lives in rural Crook County, was bitten Saturday, June 2. He developed a fever a few days later. By Friday, June 8, he was so sick that he checked himself into St. Charles Medical Center-Redmond. He was later transferred to the larger facility in Bend.
Karen Yeargain, communicable disease coordinator with Crook County Health Department, said lab tests are being done to confirm whether the man has the plague, but she said he is suffering from classic symptoms.
There's one bacterium that causes the disease -- Yersinia pestis -- but it can develop into three types of illnesses depending on how an individual's body reacts. Initially, the man had swollen lymph nodes -- a sign of bubonic plague -- but now he's showing signs of septicemic plague, when the bacteria multiply in the bloodstream. Symptoms include abdominal pain, bleeding mouth, nose or rectum and dying tissue. The third type is pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs.
DeBess said it's not clear whether the man was bitten by the mouse or by the cat. The feline died, and its body has been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. The cat was abandoned in the man's neighborhood about six years ago and stuck around. Yeargain said the man and his family had a lot of contact with it. He was bitten on the hand.
"Taking a mouse out of a cat's mouth is probably not a good idea," DeBess said.
Plague bacteria are carried by fleas, which typically infest rodents. People can become infected through flea bites or through contact with an infected animal. Some animals, including dogs, that have been exposed to the bacteria carry antibodies but do not get the plague and are not infectious.
DeBess said Oregon has a record of plague cases dating to 1934, with about a case a year and some periods when no cases appear. The prevalence of the disease depends in part on the weather and food supplies. When rodents flourish, so do fleas. That increases the likelihood of infection.
A total of four people in Oregon died from the plague since 1934, DeBess said.
The four people sickened in the past 17 years – one in 1995, two in 2010 and one in 2011 – have recovered.
The man is being treated with antibiotics. Other members of his family have been given a preventative dose, Yeargain said. The disease can be spread among people through bodily fluids.
A plague vaccine exists but is no longer sold in the U.S.
Everyone in Oregon who has fallen ill with the plague since 1934 has lived in a rural setting. But people in urban areas can become infected, too, health officials said.
DeBess said people should be cautious around strays and should not handle wild animals. For example, Northern California has suffered waves of squirrel deaths caused by the plague.
Health officials advise pet owners to protect their cats and dogs against fleas by giving them topical treatments or using a flea collar. The treatments are not 100 percent effective, but they do diminish the chances of pets becoming infected. [/quote]
[url]http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/06/man_likely_sickened_by_plague.html[/url]
unlucky bastard
Is he black?
Black Plague is still around? Jesus Christ.
Damn, its 1349 all over again.
Who the fuck saves a mouse from a cat?
[QUOTE]"But it is treatable with antibiotics, [B]and it's also preventable." [/B][/QUOTE]
yeah by not touching mice
I read that as Moose, and wondered what the fuck kind of cat could take one down, scary thought.
for those who didnt read the plague is curable with antibiotics
I thought the Black Plague was gone.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36326922]Who the fuck saves a mouse from a cat?[/QUOTE]
Reminds me of that episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Hal saves a bird from those little plastic soda rings and it immediately gets eaten by a dog
I saved a mouse from being eaten by a cat in my garden. Chucked chocolate at the cat and it ran off.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36326922]Who the fuck saves a mouse from a cat?[/QUOTE]
A nice person?
Atleast its treatable now
[QUOTE=shian;36327002]A nice person?[/QUOTE]
If you wanna be a nice person you let your cat enjoy his reward for moving his ass for once.
OH THE IRON KNEE
I can understand why he would want to save a mouse- I mean I love my cat but she's a cold-blooded murderer at the best of times, and I don't really like watching things get disembowled violently, especially near where I live.
[QUOTE=xxncxx;36327034]Atleast its treatable now[/QUOTE]
It's been treatable ever since antibiotics were invented; the only reason it assraped half of Europe was because they knew fuck-all about medicine back then.
[QUOTE=UberMunchkin;36327056]No
That mouse was all the cat could find for food that day. No birds or anything else. That cat was a stray. His partner left him and he has to provide for a whole litter of kittens. The mouse was also suicidal, and had meetings prior to the event for the cat to kill it, and it didn't mind it's dead body being eaten by kittens, as the cat & mouse were good friends.
Thanks to him a bunch of baby kittens deserted on a back alley will go another day without food whatsoever, and you say he's a nice person!?[/QUOTE]
But then this way to mouse can breed more cute disease carrying baby mices.
[quote]"Taking a mouse out of a cat's mouth is probably not a good idea,"[/quote]
[QUOTE=shian;36327002]A nice person?[/QUOTE]
So if we scale this up a bit and say stopping a tiger from eating a deer means you're a nice person?
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36326922]Who the fuck saves a mouse from a cat?[/QUOTE]
And it was a stray cat, too. They needed to eat.
[QUOTE=Canned Induvidual;36326907]Damn, its 1349 all over again.[/QUOTE]
Mmmm so nostalgic.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36327176]So if we scale this up a bit and say stopping a tiger from eating a deer means you're a nice person?[/QUOTE]
Yes
If Bambi's mum was infront of me, I'll take the bullet.
Party like it's 1349
[QUOTE=shian;36327002]A nice person?[/QUOTE]
He killed the cat by taking away its only food:
[quote]The feline died, and its body has been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing.[/quote]
Black plague never dissapeared. It pop-ups every once in a while in mainland china.
[QUOTE=ItsMozy;36328018]Black plague never dissapeared. It pop-ups every once in a while in mainland china.[/QUOTE]
Yeah. It's gone in europe but some small bits have traveled to america, asia and africe
Not trying to sound heartless, but why did he do this? Lots of people know mice can carry various diseases, if he were to save the mouse, he should have had protection, or just let the cat have it's meal. This was definitely preventable.
Suddenly mass panic on facepunch as everyone realises the plague is still a thing.
[QUOTE=Worldwaker;36326955]I read that as Moose, and wondered what the fuck kind of cat could take one down, scary thought.[/QUOTE]
Of course someone read it as something else, then noticed they were wrong, but posted about it anyway.
And is also considered funny, a winner even.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;36326922]Who the fuck saves a mouse from a cat?[/QUOTE]
If the cat bats the mouse in your house, then you have a mess of blood to assess.
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