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New Mexico Health Officials Confirm First 2025 Human Plague Case

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The bacteria which causes the plague, Yersinia pestis, circulates in rodent populations such as mice, rats, prairie dogs, ground squirrels or rabbits throughout the Western U.S. And can spread to people and animals (Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Health officials on Monday reported New Mexico's first human case of plague in a 43-year-old Valencia County man.

Plague, a fast-moving bacterial infection that can impact the lungs, blood or bodies' lymphatic symptoms, is a risk throughout the Western U.S. Infections are classed by the affected parts of the body. The most common infection is bubonic plague in the lymph nodes. Other types include plague in the lungs, called pneumatic, or blood infections, called septicemic plague. Plague spreads by fleas infected with bacteria that circulate in rodent populations such as mice, rats, prairie dogs or rabbits. It is most often transmitted to people and other domestic animals through infected fleas, but also through direct contact with infected animals.

The man, who was hospitalized and later released, received antibiotic treatments for both bubonic and septicemic plagues.

The source of the plague remains unclear, health officials said, noting the man had camped in Rio Arriba County and may have been exposed there.

"People who live or spend time near wild rodent populations in rural areas of the state should be aware of the risk of plague that is present," New Mexico State Public Health Veterinarian Erin Phipps told Source NM.

Since 1970, approximately half of the U.S. Plague cases have occurred within New Mexico — 250 infections during that time period — according to data from the New Mexico Department of Health. The most recent infection was a fatal case, killing a Lincoln County man in 2024.

Map of reported human plague cases in the United States, 1970-2023. New Mexico accounts for half of the cases since 1970. (Courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Human plague symptoms include a sudden fever, chills, headache or weakness, often accompanied by a painful swelling in the groin, armpit or neck. Plague symptoms in pet cats and dogs include lethargy, loss of appetite or a swelling under the jaw.

Phipps said plague prevention includes avoiding contact with sick or dead rodents or rabbits; clearing up debris to prevent rodent infestations; using insect repellent while outdoors; talking to veterinarians about flea control for pets; and removing pet food and water to prevent wildlife access.

Phipps urged New Mexicans to see a doctor if they experience a sudden or severe fever, saying that while antibiotics are most effective at the beginning of an infection.

"The challenge with plague often is starting that treatment quickly, because plague can progress and become very severe, very rapidly," Phipps said.

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Intermittent-fasting Diets May Prevent Infections, Study Finds

Intermittent fasting may help prevent infections, a new study has found. Photo by LauraTara/Pixabay

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Intermittent-fasting diets may help prevent infections in those who practice them, a study published Thursday by the journal PLOS Pathogens found.

Mice orally infected with a bacteria responsible for most stomach viruses that were put on a fast for 48 hours before exposure had fewer signs of bacterial infection compared with those that were fed, the researchers said.

The mice in the study were infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, which causes gastroenteritis, an infection humans experience as abdominal cramps, diarrhea and vomiting, researchers said.

However, when fasted mice were infected with Salmonella intravenously, they did not have similar protection from illness, nor did those mice bred to lack a normal gut microbiome.

This indicates that any protective effect from fasting was due to changes in the gut microbiome, the collection of bacteria and other micro-organisms that live in the digestive tract and help the body process what it consumes, the researchers said.

"We saw an overall change in the composition of the microbiome, meaning an increase in some bacteria and a decrease in other bacteria," study co-author Dr. Bruce Vallance said in a press release.

"However, we did not show in our study which bacteria specifically is responsible for the protective effect," said Vallance, a professor of gastroenterology at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Intermittent fasting diets may offer some health benefits, assisting in weight loss and reducing heart disease risk, among others, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Although their role in preventing certain conditions, including infections, remains unclear, based on earlier research, some have proposed them as a way to help prevent COVID-19, though more studies, particularly those with human subjects, are needed.

Still, when people or animals develop an infection, they often lose their appetite, which suggests there may be a connection between food consumption and the onset of illness, Vallance and his colleagues said.

For this study, the researchers fasted several mice for 48 hours before and during oral infection with Salmonella while feeding others normally for comparison purposes.

The fasted mice showed fewer signs of bacterial infection, including virtually no intestinal tissue damage or inflammation, the researchers said.

However, there was a dramatic increase in the presence of Salmonella bacteria and signs of invasion into the intestinal walls when the fasted mice were fed for one day following their fast, although intestinal inflammation was still lower than normal, according to the researchers.

Additional experiments using the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni, the most common cause of food poisoning, confirmed that the effect of fasting was not limited to Salmonella, the researchers said.

Food plays an important role in regulating interactions between pathogens and the gut microbiome, they said.

When food is limited, the microbiome appears to store the nutrients that remain, preventing pathogens from acquiring the energy they need to infect the host, according to the researchers.

The findings suggest that therapeutic fasting or calorie restriction has the potential to prevent infections, as well as non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases, the researchers said.

"The microbiome as a whole is mediating most of the protective effect of fasting since mice lacking a microbiome are not as protected from the infection," Vallance said.

Fast Food Elicits Same Immune System Response As Bacterial Infection ...

For the study, researchers fed mice a "Western diet" high in saturated fats, sugar and salt for one month. These mice demonstrated an increased number of immune cells in their blood, which usually occurs when a bacterial infection is present. Researchers examined the immune cells and discovered the mice's diet activated certain genes responsible for stimulating the immune system's defense against a biological attack or infection.

Past research has shown these genes are reprogrammed after an infection to prepare for another immune system attack.

"It has only recently been discovered that the innate immune system has a form of memory," Eicke Latz, MD, PhD, a researcher from the University of Bonn in Germany, told Science Alert. "After an infection, the body's defenses remain in a kind of alarm state, so that they can respond more quickly to a new attack."

Researchers identified the same trend in the mice. One month after they returned to a normal diet, the mice's genetic reprogramming was still evident, making them more susceptible to inflammation linked with diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

"If the same sort of reaction is happening inside our bodies, then it's more evidence for the link between an unhealthy diet and health problems such as type II diabetes, obesity and issues with the heart," the researchers told Science Alert.

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