Did you hear there is a teenager in Oregon with Bubonic Plague?

Seriously? We've already seen other diseases return. Why not the plague? Does anyone think that illegal aliens would carry some diseases but not others? Now let's look at the irony of the situation. The plague swept across the Medieval World because people feared cats supposing that they were familiars for witches. As cats were eradicated, the rat population exploded. With the rats came the fleas carrying the plague. The thought processes that allow people to enter our country illegally without screening for disease so they will vote for the party that opened the gates for them, is just about as primitive as the fear of witches.

Its still around.

Bubonic Plague is alive and well in parts of the world. It is just much treatable with modern medicine.

Sgt Kelli Mays thanks for posting, this is scary stuff. My question is, where was she hunting so I can avoid that area.

No I did not hear there is a teenager in Oregon with Bubonic Plague Sgt Kelli Mays. Every so often the Bubonic Plague has popped up in different places around this country. I was inoculated against the Bubonic Plague in 1974 and 1980 because of the possibly that I might be deployed to somewhere were the Bubonic Plague was active.

It could have been a bite from a deer tick. They are very potent, but I don't know about carrying the plague.

California Average 1-2 a year, mostly from kids playing with dead squirrels - caught early it is really easy to deal with.

The plague is spread by infected fleas. There are a few cases that come up every year. http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/

The disease was never wiped out. The main reason it decimated such large populations during the outbreaks in ancient and medieval times was due to lack of current medical technology, including now-commonly available antibiotics. The agent is often found in regions of the US where dry conditions occur and often the first signs of a local out break are deaths of rodents in the region. Prairie Dogs and Chipmunks are often effected.

Most of the time, with immediate care, those effected recover. The majority of the deaths in recent years occur in population centers where hygiene standards and medical care are poor.

It's nothing to panic over. The "Plague" is endemic to the rodent (including prairie dog) populations of the American Southwest. Human cases appear most often in the 4 corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, although there are also less frequent cases along the Pacific Coast from Mexico all the way up to Washington State. Its very treatable when diagnosed in its early stages. Unfortunately its early symptoms are similar to a severe case of the flu and may not be diagnosed by a doctor not trained to look for it. We had a case at a hospital I worked at in Colorado. It sent a young Resident Physician from Sri Lanka into a near panic when he heard "the Plague" was in the hospital. Its actually hard to catch, just wear a mask when sweeping rodent poop out of old buildings and stay away from dead animals.