A Santa Fe County woman died from plague, the New Mexico Department of Health announced Thursday.
The death marks the state’s first human case of plague in 2026. No details about the woman’s age or area where she lived were released.
New Mexico typically sees a handful of plague cases in humans and animals every year — meaning this case, while tragic, isn’t cause for undue alarm, said Dr. Erin Phipps, the Health Department’s state public health veterinarian.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for elevated concern,” she said. “I do think awareness is important. Being aware that this does circulate throughout New Mexico is important so that you can then take those prevention measures.”
The bacterium that causes plague circulates among wild rodents — including rats, mice, prairie dogs, ground squirrels and sometimes rabbits — throughout much of the Western U.S. Typically, plague is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas or by direct contact with infected animals, though people with plague in their lungs can spread the disease by coughing, too.
The state Health Department has reached out to close contacts of the woman who died and it plans to conduct an environmental assessment to determine ongoing risks.
Symptoms of the disease in humans include “sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, and weakness. There may be a painful swelling of the lymph node in the groin, armpit or neck areas,” the agency said in a news release.
Phipps said plague offers an important lesson on when to seek medical attention: “Any severe illnesses — plague, along with others — can progress very rapidly. … Anyone who develops a very sudden and high fever, any shortness of breath, weakness — those are all signs that whatever is going on is severe enough that medical attention is warranted.”
While the disease seems scary — an illness caused by the same bacterium that killed a large percentage of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages — plague cases occur periodically in New Mexico.
A handful of dogs in the state have been diagnosed with the disease this year. Three people and five animals in New Mexico were infected with plague in 2025.
Plague is the latest in a series of zoonotic diseases — or diseases that spread between animals and people — to strike in New Mexico this year.
Santa Fe County in March reported New Mexico’s first case of hantavirus in 2026. The local version of the disease primarily spreads through rodent droppings and regularly circulates in the state. New Mexico saw seven hantavirus cases in 2025, three of which were fatal — including one case found to have caused the death of Betsy Arakawa, a Santa Fe resident and the wife of actor Gene Hackman.
State and federal agricultural leaders announced earlier this week a Lea County dog has been infested with the sometimes-deadly New World screwworm fly. Though largely eradicated from the U.S. for decades, the fly, larvae from which feasts on the flesh of warm-blooded creatures, has been creeping toward the U.S.-Mexico border for years.
As of Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed seven screwworm infestations in the U.S., including the one in Lea County. State animal health officials have established a 12-mile infested zone around the dog’s location. Animals within the zone must be inspected and, if necessary, treated prior to movement.
With the exception of the state’s single New World screwworm infestation, however, Phipps said this year isn’t much different from any other in terms of zoonotic diseases like plague.
“Awareness is key,” she said. “We don’t see any reason for elevated concern or alarm, but plague does occur throughout New Mexico, and being aware of the risk is important.”
