Plague Data
Plague is an infectious disease of animals and humans caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis. People usually get plague from the bite of a rodent flea that is carrying plague bacteria or by handling an infected animal. Although plague is a rare disease, about half of U.S. cases each year occur in New Mexico. Today, modern antibiotics are effective against plague, but if an infected person is not treated promptly, the disease can be life-threatening.
Plague Information for New Mexico Physicians and Health Care Workers
Manual for Investigation and Control of Communicable Diseases in New Mexico, 2008: Plague Chapter
Frequently Asked Questions About Plague
Preguntas más frecuentes sobre la peste
New Mexico Human Case Data
Human Plague in NM by month year and decade 1949-2012
Human Plague in NM by County, 1949-2012
Human Plague Cases, 2012 (map and chart)
Animal Plague in New Mexico
Feline plague in NM, 1977-2012
Confirmed Pet Plague Cases 2004 through 2012
Plague Activity in New Mexico
(updated 06/11/2013)
Human Plague Map, 2013
Animal Plague Map, 2013
There have been no confirmed human plague case in New Mexico in 2013.
There has been one case of confirmed animal plague in a dog in Bernalillo County in New Mexico in 2013.
SELECTED LITERATURE PERTAINING TO PLAGUE IN THE SOUTHEWEST
Eisen RJ, Reynolds PJ, Ettestad P, et al. Residence-linked human plague in New Mexico: a habitat-suitability model. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2007;77:121-125.
Eisen RJ, Enscore RE, Biggerstaff BJ, et al. Human plague in the Southwestern United States, 1957-2004: spatial models of elevated risk of human exposure to Yersinia pestis. J Med Entomol. 2007;44:530-537.
Gage KL, Dennis DT, Orloski KA, et al. Cases of cat-associated human plague in the Western US, 1977-1998. Clin Infect Dis. 2000;30:893-900.
Enscore RE, Biggerstaff BJ, Brown TL, et al. Modeling relationships between climate and the frequency of human plague cases in the Southwestern United States, 1960-1997. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2002;66:186-196.
