Pneumonic Plague in a Dog and Widespread Potential Human Exposure in a Veterinary Hospital, United States

Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Apr;25(4):800-803. doi: 10.3201/eid2504.181195.

Abstract

In December 2017, a dog that had pneumonic plague was brought to a veterinary teaching hospital in northern Colorado, USA. Several factors, including signalment, season, imaging, and laboratory findings, contributed to delayed diagnosis and resulted in potential exposure of >116 persons and 46 concurrently hospitalized animals to Yersinia pestis.

Keywords: Colorado; United States; Yersinia pestis; bacteria; canine; dog; human exposure; plague; pneumonic plague; vector-borne infections; veterinary teaching hospital; zoonoses.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biopsy
  • Colorado
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Dog Diseases / diagnosis
  • Dog Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Dog Diseases / microbiology*
  • Dogs
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia / diagnosis
  • Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia / epidemiology*
  • Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia / microbiology*
  • Hospitals, Animal*
  • Humans
  • Plague / veterinary*
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • Sentinel Surveillance
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed
  • United States / epidemiology
  • Yersinia pestis