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Let's Just Calm Down About the Bubonic Plague—For Now

The words "bubonic plague" conjure up Dark Ages images of firewood-stacked corpses and rapid population decimation—you know, "bring out your dead"—but, in the modern era, it's pretty low on the list of rational fears, even you were to catch it. Most antibiotics are effective in treating the infection, cutting the bubonic plague mortality rate down to between 1 and 15 percent. In untreated cases, however, that rate shoots up to 40 to 60 percent. Moreover, bubonic plague isn't particularly transmissible. It persists mainly among rodents and is passed back and forth between them and their flea entourages. These rodent-flea cycles have been going on for some 6,000 years.

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Featured

 Plague Still Exists. Here's Where and How It Spreads in the U.S.

Plague infections in humans are rare, but a case in Oregon reminds us that the disease is not gone.

 Scientists Discovered Revelatory New Evidence of the Bubonic Plague

Even having lived through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic over the course of the last few years, there’s probably not a more famous disease in the world than the bubonic plague. After all, it’s often literally simply referred to as “the plague.” If your disease becomes so all-encompassing that just referencing the idea of widespread disease brings it to mind, your notoriety is pretty cemented.

 You could get the plague (but probably won’t)

Given Yersinia pestis‘ past, the ominous classification is indeed justified: Over the course of human history, we’ve witnessed three severe outbreaks that have wiped out, on most occasions, more than half the population in the infected area. So when news that people caught the plague—and died from it—comes out, it can be downright frightening. But the reality is that, despite the name, the plague is just another dangerous species of bacteria. These days we can identify and treat patients with antibiotics before they develop pneumonic plague, when their coughs can spew droplets of bacteria into the air for others to inhale. But the microbe still lingers, mostly in animal populations. On occasion, it pops up in humans.

Articles of Interest

Bubonic plague: the first pandemic

The impact of the bubonic plague epidemics of the past still echo across the centuries, reminding us of the devastation that disease can inflict on communities.

A case of bubonic plague was reported in Oregon. Here’s what to know

The bubonic plague is an infectious disease that can affect mammals, caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. It is often transmitted via fleas infected with the bacteria. It can also be caught by inhaling respiratory droplets after close contact with animals or humans sick with pneumonic plague, the most severe form of the disease. Another way it can be caught is “from direct contact with infected tissues or fluids while handling an animal that is sick with or that has died from plague”, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A U.S. Squirrel Has the Plague: Are We All Going to Die?

Yes, but probably not of bubonic plague. The very same apocalyptic Black Death does still linger in the U.S., though. It's worth knowing something about.

Black Death's Daddy Was the Bubonic Plague

The bubonic plague makes its first deadly appearance in historical records during the sixth century, and scientists and historians have long eyed it as the culprit of the Black Death that went down from 1347 to 1353, as well as of other plagues throughout history. But uncertainty in genetic data has produced other suspects, including viral hemorrhagic fever or some yet-to-be-discovered disease. All of this data, according to the study, points to bubonic plague as the cause of the 400-year-long pandemic and not other diseases.

Bubonic plague (aka The Black Death) probably already here, in Los Angeles, says Dr. Drew

"This is disgusting, it is reckless negligence," said Dr. Drew. "We have to have a solution to this."

Bubonic plague cases are on the rise in the US. Yes, really

Plague is a disease you probably associate with the Middle Ages, when the "Black Death" killed 50 million people, wiping out most of Europe. But it's still around today. In some countries, particularly Madagascar, people live in constant fear of plague. Every year, the US records about a dozen plague deaths...

Bubonic Plague Deaths Quarantine Tourist Flight And Close Border

The plague, which can now be treated, can kill inside a day albeit it usually takes longer. The disease is treatable with antibiotics but hundreds have died around the world in recent years. Prevention relies on not touching (or obviously eating) dead animals in those areas where the plague is present. Without treatment, the plague kills up to 90% of those infected within ten days.

Bubonic Plague: Forgotten, But Not Gone

Bubonic Plague (Yersinia Pestis) is a bacterial infection transmitted by fleas, carried by infected rats. The infection generally sets up in the lymphatic system, resulting in the tell-tale buboes, or swollen lymph glands in the the groin, armpits, and neck. Since plague is fairly easily treated with antibiotics, it isn’t much of a public health menace in the developed world. In areas where treatment isn’t readily available, however, mortality rates run 40%-60% and untreated pneumonic plague is almost always fatal.

Did Body Lice Spread Bubonic Plague? Research Suggests the Parasites Are Better Vectors Than Thought

These blood-sucking insects are capable of transmitting the bacteria that caused the Black Death, according to a laboratory study.

Did bubonic plague really cause the Black Death?

Everyone thinks the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague. But they could be wrong – and we need to find the real culprit before it strikes again.

Oh, Dear. The Bubonic Plague Has Hit China. What Does That Mean for You?

The bubonic plague is one of those diseases that seems like it belongs solely in the history books—something that happened to people from many centuries past but never to us modern day-ers. Right? But...well, not right. According to the World Health Organization, up to 3,000 people get the bubonic plague every year—including some in the U.S.

Squirrel Plague Prompts Fears: Should You Be Scared Of The Black Death?

The United States is one of the many countries around the world that technically still suffers from what was once called the Black Death. Although we're not keeling over like medieval peasants, there are regular cases of bubonic plague that spring up every year in the American southwest.

The Black Death: Bubonic Plague

In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes, which is how it gets its name.

When bubonic plague hit France in 1720, officials dithered. Sound familiar?

On May 25, 1720, a ship named the Grand Saint-Antoine arrived in the port of Marseille, France, laden with cotton, fine silks, and other goods. The invisible cargo it also carried, the bacteria known as Yersinia pestis, launched the Great Plague of Provence, the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Europe.

Why the United States Is Plagued With Plague

The bacterium that causes plague—Yersinia pestis—might have never gained a foothold in the United States. The bacterium could have been eradicated at its source, but years of governmental delay, bureaucratic snafus, false optimism, and misguided frugality led to our current state: Y. pestis can be found in rodent populations throughout the Western half of the country.

You Do Not Need to Worry About the Bubonic Plague Squirrel in Colorado

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes, “Plague is a very serious illness, but is treatable with commonly available antibiotics,” which includes streptomycin, gentamicin, levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, doxycycline moxifloxacin, and chloramphenicol. If you think you might have been bitten by a plague-infected flea, you can take some of these drugs before any symptoms emerge, and that will stop the painful buboes appearing in the first place. In addition, CNN has helpfully reported that, last year, a couple died from plague after eating the raw kidney of a marmot. That suggests part of any household safety plan you develop in response to bubonic squirrel concerns should probably include “don’t eat raw squirrel innards.”