Death from plague: Colorado teen dies from a rare case of the bubonic plague
Originally published on 22 June, 2015
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A 16-year-old boy in Colorado died from a rare case of the plague in early June. Officials suspect the boy contracted the bubonic plague as it is the most common type.
Experts believe a flea likely bit Taylor Gaes after contracting the bubonic plague from a sick rat near Gaes’ rural Colorado home. Once plague bacteria is in the body, it travels through the body’s lymphatic system to the closest cluster of lymph nodes situated in the armpit, groin or neck. Once in a lymph node, the bacteria begins to multiply.
If untreated, the bacteria can spread to other areas of the body and infects internal organs.
Gaes developed a fever and experienced muscle aches, and at first his symptoms were mistaken for the common flu. However, after a few days Gaes began to cough up blood and then eventually stopped breathing altogether.
Katie O’Donnell, a Larimer County Health Department spokesman, told the Los Angeles Times that Gaes didn’t suffer from swollen lymph nodes, which would have alerted officials to the illness earlier. Bubonic plague can be successfully treated if diagnosed early enough.
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