The Plague Is Back, This Time In New Mexico

Three people in New Mexico caught the plague, according to health officials there, who reported the two most recent cases this week.

Yes, this is the same illness that killed an estimated 50 million people across three continents in the 1300s, though these days common antibiotics will get rid of it.

Once known as the Black Death for the dark patches caused by bleeding under the skin, the plague swept Europe 700 years ago, killing a third of the population — an estimated 25 million. It wiped out millions in China and Hong Kong in the late 1800s before people put two and two together and started targeting rat populations.

Centuries later, the plague periodically pops up in countries across the globe — though at minor levels compared to its medieval heyday. In 2015, the World Health Organization recorded 320 cases across the globe, including 77 deaths.

A flea-dwelling bacterium, Yersinia pestis, causes the scourge.

The U.S. tends to see between one and 17 human cases a year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease likely hitched a ride to the U.S. in 1900 on flea-infested rats, which had boarded steamships in Asia. Since then, infected fleas have taken up residence on rodents including chipmunks, squirrels and prairie dogs across the southwest.

4 LA Fitness gym-goers contract Legionnaire's disease in Florida

4 LA Fitness gym-goers contract Legionnaire's disease in Florida

The Florida Department of Health has confirmed four cases of Legionnaires' disease at two LA Fitness gyms in central Florida's Orange County, CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG reports.
Tony Smith said he has been going to LA Fitness for more than a year, and now he's concerned about getting sick.

"That kind of annoys me. My health is a top priority," he said. "They're always running out of soap, and they don't have proper paper towels so you can wash your hands."

Bacteria and parasites in pools, water parks can cause serious illness

Every summer, hundreds of thousands of people flock to their neighborhood pools and water parks seeking relief from the South’s heat and humidity.

What most don’t consider is that they are risking their health.

Bacteria and parasites that live in the water can make people sick. Of course, most people swim without incident, thanks to the work of pool operators who keep germ-killing chemicals at the proper levels.

South Carolina has about 6,000 public swimming pools that are opened seasonally, according to Robert Yanity, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. DHEC issues annual operating permits for those pools and performs routine surprise inspections throughout the summer.

Unlike with food inspections, DHEC does not maintain an online database of pool regulation violators. DHEC conducts the following three tests on public swimming pools: chlorine/bromine content, pH levels and cyanuric acid levels.

California Reality: Surf, Sun and Bacteria

Some of California’s most celebrated beaches are also the most likely to make you sick.

Heal the Bay, an environmental nonprofit, recently issued its annual report card for bacterial pollution at more than 400 beaches along the Pacific Coast. Singled out as the least sanitary were destinations like La Jolla Cove, San Clemente Pier, Santa Monica Pier and Santa Cruz County’s Cowell and Capitola beaches.

During the dry days of summer last year, the vast majority of California beaches had excellent grades. But winter was a different story. As record rainfall swept through the state’s cityscapes and pushed billions of gallons of runoff out to sea, water quality plummeted.

Nearly half of California beaches earned grades of C to F during the wet weather, 12 percent more than the five-year average. Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bay’s chief scientist, said solutions lie in programs known to mitigate runoff pollution such as increased urban green cover and projects to capture, clean and reuse storm water.

Monroe, Michigan issues boil water advisory due to E. coli discovery

The city of Monroe has issued a drinking water warning and boil water advisory due E. coli being discovered.

It was found in the water supply in the area along LaPlaisance Road south of Hull Road to the south end of Bolles Harbor on June 28. The city says that no other service areas are affected.

This in that area are recommended to boil water, according to the city which expects to resolve the problem in the next 48 hours.

The bacteria can make you sick, and are a particular concern for people with weakened immune systems.

Sandcastles can make you sick; beware playing on beaches filled with bacteria and pollutants

Sandcastles can make you sick; beware playing on beaches filled with bacteria and pollutants.

CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. - Brittany Schiro knows about dirty beaches.

“We have a lot of problems in the water, bacterial stuff going on there," says Schiro, who lives close to Galveston, Texas. She is much more comfortable bringing her two daughters to Clearwater Beach, where they’re vacationing.

“You gotta let them be children, right?" she said.

Schiro and her husband Eric are aware of new warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency and pediatricians. Beach sand can contain pollutants and bacteria that is especially harmful to children.