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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Decision To Withhold Info on Plague Questioned
By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
The decision by health officials to withhold some specifics about a bubonic plague case in Edgewood is being questioned by some who came in direct contact with victims, or potential victims, of the disease.
This year, there have been four confirmed cases of plague in humans, including an 8-year-old boy, reportedly from Edgewood, who died.
Two other cases from Santa Fe County were the boy's 10-year-old sister and a 56-year-old man, both of whom have recovered.
Vicki Murphy, an animal control officer for Edgewood, said she didn't know the plague cases were in her area until recently. She was given the same information that was sent out to the general public, which only specified Santa Fe County.
When asked by the Telegraph earlier this month, Deborah Busemeyer, spokeswoman for the Health Department, refused to give a more specific region in the county where the case occurred.
Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian, explained that the policy is an effort to protect patients' confidentiality. He said plague is not just an issue for Edgewood, but for all of Santa Fe County. He said he worked on the protocols for sending out information with Busemeyer, and that attempts to get specific information about where each case was found would be "missing the point."
"We don't want people to say it's just in one particular area," he said. "To tell someone that it's here, but not anywhere else, that would be very misleading."
Ray Mahalick, chief for the Edgewood Volunteer Fire District, said his department responded to the emergency call in this case, but health officials did not tell him that the cause of death was plague.
"Resuscitation was not successful at the residence," he said. "They didn't know he had plague, nobody knew that ... we were pretty much in the dark as well, as far as finding out."
While the disease could affect them or the people who work for them, Murphy added that she could also be more effective as an educator if she could tell pet owners that plague is in their area and that they should treat their animals for fleas to help stop the spread of disease.
"I'm concerned that they don't notify the animal control entities," she said.
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