Pneumonic plague is caused by bacteria carried by species like rats and prairie dogs. Pneumonic and bubonic plague transmission and symptoms vary. Pneumonic plague killed a resident of northern Arizona, who died in the emergency room at Flagstaff Medical Center.

The death in Coconino County, which includes Flagstaff, was the first recorded death from pneumonic plague since 2007, local officials said.

Arizona's Coconino County, near Flagstaff, has reported a pneumonic plague death, its first since 2007. The Arizona resident, who suffered a severe lung infection caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium,