A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has reveled that a dog infected with pneumonic plague has spread the disease to four Colorado residents, ABC News reports. According to health officials, this is the first time that a human has been infected by a dog in the United States.
A dog fell ill last summer, exhibiting several symptoms, but by the time the owners got him to the vet, he had deteriorated to the extent that they had to put him to sleep. Four days afterwards, the owner noted a fever and other symptoms, but when doctors did a blood culture, it was misidentified. Following re-testing, along with testing the dog's remains, the disease was properly identified.
According to Janine Runfola, main author of the report, "For pneumonic plague a more likely scenario would be you have a cat [play] with prairie dogs and infected fleas get on the cat," Runfola said. "The cat gets sick and sneezes and coughs on its owner."