Bubonic plague case confirmed in Michigan

A Michigan resident has contracted the rare, life-threatening bubonic plague – the first documented case in Michigan’s public health history, state officials have confirmed.

A Marquette county resident is believed to have contracted the flea-borne illness during a trip to Colorado, and officials are reassuring the public there is no cause for alarm.

The person is recovering after receiving appropriate treatment, and his or her form of the plague never developed into the more contagious pneumonic plague. It’s the pneumonic plague – not the bubonic plague that the Michigan resident contracted – that’s passed between humans, infecting the lungs and causing a rapidly developing pneumonia which can lead to respiratory failure and shock, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

In bubonic plague, patients develop sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes (called buboes), and it’s usually the result of an infected flea bite, according to the CDC.

In the Michigan case, “truly there is no risk to anyone,” said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. “This is not something that occurs to Michigan … This is a person who contracted this while they were away, and the individual is making a recovery and is not a public health issue.”

People can be infected when they are bitten by infected fleas or have direct contact with the tissues or body fluids from an infected animal. The highest risk is in settings that offer food and shelter for rodents - campsites and cabins, for example.

The plague is extremely rare, and with an average of seven human cases reported across the U.S. each year, according to the CDC. However, the western United States is experiencing an increase in reported cases of plague in 2015, with 14 human cases including four deaths reported.

The reason for the increase is not known.

Contact Robin Erb: rerb@freepress.com or 313-222-2708. Follow her on Twitter @Freephealth.