Animal Plague Has Not Spread, Officials Say

A disease linked to bubonic plague apparently has not gained a foothold in Rancho Palos Verdes despite the discovery of an infected house cat, county health officials said.

None of the 18 pets and wild animals tested this month by the county Department of Health Services was infected by the disease, known as sylvatic plague, Environmental Health Officer Barbara Gondo announced this week.

Vet’s Discovery

Tests were ordered earlier this month after Dr. Margaret Horstmeyer, a Torrance veterinarian, discovered sylvatic plague in a cat she was treating.

Sylvatic plague does not affect people but fleas that infect animals with it often carry deadly bubonic plague and can transmit it to humans. Historians estimate that the plague killed as much as a third of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages. It now can be treated with antibiotics.

Blood tests showed that none of the 13 dogs and cats, 3 rats and 2 skunks tested from Rancho Palos Verdes had contracted sylvatic plague, Gondo said. An opossum’s blood test is pending.

“This indicates to us that there does not appear to be a concentrated pocket of disease,” Gondo said.

Health officials were especially concerned that sylvatic plague had spread to the Peninsula because it was an area where it had not previously been detected. The disease has been almost entirely confined to inland foothills and mountains.

Gondo said officials do not know how the infected cat, which died of an unrelated illness, contracted sylvatic plague. Despite the test results, pet owners in Rancho Palos Verdes should take precautions to ensure that their pets are free of fleas, health officials said. Local veterinarians reported that they were contacted by several worried owners and administered flea-killing dips.

“Pet owners should be aware that there are diseases that are transmitted from fleas to domestic animals,” Gondo said, “and the infected fleas can get into the house and infect humans. It’s always good to do flea control.”

Periodic Tests Planned

Health officials said the test results means they will not have to conduct ground dusting of pesticides, but they will periodically test animals in the city.

Isolated cases of the disease were also recently discovered in Santa Clarita, Topanga Canyon and Griffith Park, but follow-up tests found no further cases.

Bubonic plague was last reported in the county in 1984 when three people were treated. A North Hollywood man died from the disease in 1981.