US: Arizona resident dies from plague, 1st in 2 decades
A resident of Coconino County, Arizona, died from pneumonic plague, the first such death in the county in almost two decades, officials said Friday.
The resident went to Flagstaff Medical Centre recently and died the same day despite attempts to provide "lifesaving resuscitation," according to a statement from Northern Arizona Healthcare, which runs the hospital.
Test confirmed the patient was infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the pneumonic plague, which appears as a severe lung infection. It was the first recorded death from pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007, officials said. The risk of exposure to the plague remains low, officials said.
It's rare for cases of the disease to appear in humans, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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