Overview

• The unidentified resident arrived at Flagstaff Medical Center’s emergency department on July 11 and died within 24 hours of symptom onset.
• A presumptive diagnosis of Yersinia pestis was obtained through rapid testing by the Arizona Department of Health Services and later confirmed by autopsy.
• Coconino County Health and Human Services confirmed this as the county’s first pneumonic plague death since 2007.
• Officials are investigating a recent die-off of prairie dogs and collecting fleas in the Townsend Winona area to trace potential plague reservoirs.
• Authorities stress that plague remains endemic at low levels among wild rodents in the western U.S. and that human-to-human spread is exceedingly rare.