KUSA - Experts say an increase in the rodent population may be to blame for an uptick in plague cases in recent years, KUSA reports.
According to the state health department there have been four human cases of the plague in Colorado in 2015. The Pueblo City County Health Department confirmed an adult died from the plague Wednesday. It's the second death due to plague in Colorado this year.
Plague is transported through rodents by infected fleas. A spokesperson for the Larimer County Health Department says a lower number of rodent predators, and a wet spring, has allowed for a surge of the rodent population. That makes the transmission of the plague more likely.
"We don't have too many coyotes and foxes so we have more rodents and that's how the transmission takes place so the more rodents we have, the more likelihood that we'll have some of these cases," County Health Department spokesperson Katie O'Donnell said.
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Source: KUSA