--- title: Pit Bull Spreads Largest US Outbreak of Pneumonic Plague in 90 Years description: The largest outbreak of pneumonic plague in the U.S. in 90 years started with an infected pit bull, according to a new government report. canonical: https://time.com/3843149/pit-bull-pneumonic-plague/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-01T14:51:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:51:18.860Z article:section: Health og:title: Pit Bull Spreads Pneumonic Plague og:description: Four people got sick in the plague outbreak og:url: https://time.com/3843149/pit-bull-pneumonic-plague/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pit Bull Spreads Pneumonic Plague twitter:description: Four people got sick in the plague outbreak twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Pit Bull Spreads Largest U.S. Outbreak of Pneumonic Plague in 90 Years > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers May 1, 2015 2:51 PM UTC by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers May 1, 2015 2:51 PM UTC The largest outbreak of pneumonic plague in the U.S. in 90 years started with an infected pit bull, according to a new government [report](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6416a1.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6416a1%5Fwhttp://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6416a1.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6416a1%5Fw). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that four adults contracted the plague last summer after a middle-aged man’s 2-year-old American pit bull terrier fell ill with a fever and was coughing up blood. The man had the dog put down but a few days later he developed similar symptoms and checked himself into a hospital. After his condition worsened, he was transferred to another medical facility and spent 23 days hospitalized in all before recovering. Researchers contacted 114 people who had come in contact with the dog or his owner and found three others who had gotten sick. Two were employees of the vet clinic that euthanized the pit bull and the other person had “close contact” with the owner and got the dog’s blood on her hands after it died. All of them reported getting a fever but none became as sick as the owner. If the fourth case, the woman who had close contact with the owner, was caused by the man and not his pet, it would be the first time someone has contracted the plague from another human since 1924, according to the CDC, and the Colorado cases compose the largest outbreak since then. 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