Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-2540 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor

Phone: (307) 766-3571

E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

 

Date: July 26, 2006

 

Information on the plague available on UW Web site

                The University of Wyoming’s Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL) has information on the Web about the plague.

            Ken Mills, a professor in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Veterinary Sciences, which manages the WSVL, said veterinarians and cat owners should be aware of the symptoms since pets in Wyoming have been confirmed with the disease for the past two years. The most recent case was diagnosed this month.

            This followed a 23-year hiatus in which no Wyoming pets were confirmed with plague, he noted.

            Information is available at http://wyovet.uwyo.edu/Disease_Updates.asp.

            Click on 2005, and scroll down to Plague under Topic. The release dates are June 30, 2005; June 17, 2005; and June 13, 2005.

            The latest case was confirmed by the WSVL in early July after a domestic cat in rural Laramie County became sick. The owner took the animal to a veterinarian after it came down with a fever, quit eating and drinking and became lethargic.

            “The veterinarian in Cheyenne who was treating the cat was aware of the plague cases from last year so, when she saw swollen lymph nodes on the cat, she gave us a call,” Mills said.

            Mills said he received a sample from the cat July 8, and he confirmed that day the animal had “localized plague” in the lymph nodes. The cat recovered from the disease.

            If the plague is localized in the lymph nodes, he said, it’s typically not contagious to people.

            If the disease is not treated, it can spread to the lungs and cause pneumonic plague, which can be fatal to not only the animal but humans exposed to the animal, he emphasized.

            “Plague in the pneumonic form can spread very fast because of the coughing,” Mills said.

            He noted there were six apparently unrelated cases of the plague in domestic cats last year including three in Laramie County and one each in Albany, Natrona and Teton counties.   

             “If your cat develops a fever and has swollen lymph nodes, it is definitely time to take the animal to a veterinarian,” he said.

            The plague cycles in prairie dogs and fleas, he added, and if a domestic cat comes into contact with a diseased animal or infected flea, it can in turn become infected.

            It’s unusual for a domestic dog to become infected, but it can happen, he noted.

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