Aug 26, 2008 7:26 pm US/Eastern
Conn. Boy Scout Contracts Bubonic Plague
Teen Likely Bitten By 'Rat Flea' While On Mission In Wyoming
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBS) ―
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Male Xenopsylla cheopis (oriental rat flea) engorged with blood. This flea is the primary vector of plague in most large plague epidemics in Asia, Africa, and South America. Both male and female fleas can transmit the infection.
CDC.gov
It strikes fewer than 20 Americans each year, and now a local teenager has survived a bout with Bubonic plague. The young man is a Connecticut Boy Scout who apparently was infected earlier this month in Wyoming.
The teen was on an eight-day mission of hard work for a good cause, one of 1,000 Boy Scouts who helped clear brush, remove fences, and improve trails at a National Park.
When he returned home to Connecticut with more than sore muscles, however, he found out he was infected with the potentially deadly Bubonic plague.
"He'd like to put it behind him at this point. It was a scary episode for the family," said Lou Salute of the Conn. Yankee Scout Council.
Salute says the 18-year-old traveled with 17 other local scouts to Wyoming's Bridger Teton National Forest for the public service project. At their campground, the teen was probably bitten by a "rat flea" when he became infected.
According to Dr. Vince Quagliarello, an infectious disease expert at Yale University, the Bubonic plague comes from "usually a flea that bites an infected animal – a rodent, a prairie dog, a squirrel – and then bites a human."
The Scout returned home to the Milford-New Haven area on Aug. 3, and within three days he was hospitalized with a persistent high fever of 104 degrees.
A blood test confirmed he had the plague.
The Scout was treated with antibiotics and has made a full recovery.
Salute says most importantly, the plague was caught early.
"The Scout was not contagious, [it was] caught in stage one. There was no chance of someone else catching the disease from him," he said.
Salute says the young man is a supremely dedicated Scout who won't let the plague diminish his pride in a job well done.
The last plague victims in the area were a couple from New Mexico who got sick while visiting the city in 2002. Lucinda Marker recovered quickly, but John Tull spent 224 days in the hospital and had his legs amputated.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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