AUSTIN, Texas, May 5 (UPI) -- Texas officials said Wednesday a bacterium that causes plague has been confirmed in wood rats and prairie dogs found in West Texas and the Panhandle.
Officials said it is not unusual to have plague in wild rodents in the western United States. The bacterium, Ysernia pestis, was confirmed in dead wood rats near Midland-Grassock county border and fleas in prairie dogs in the Panhandle.
"Plague occasionally cycles through the wild rodent population, sometimes causing large die-offs of rats, prairie dogs and other rodents," said Tom Sidwa, acting director of the Texas Department of Health's animal disease control division.
Fleas spread the plague to dogs, cats and humans. Plague in humans can be effectively treated with antibiotics if detected early, Sidwa said. Infection can also occur from breathing in respiratory droplets from an infected animal.
The last recorded human case of plague in Texas was in 1993 in a Kent County resident, health officials said. An average of 13 human cases a year occur in the United States, mostly in the West.
