[jonrick46]

I understand the naming of this disease with the word “plague,” did not mean it was the original bubonic plague that killed tens of millions of people in Europe in the 14th century. I assumed it was the generic term for it. Little did I know that the infectious disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria is still hanging around and accounts for over 80 percent of U.S. plague cases. Plague cases have mostly occurred in Africa, according to the WHO. “The three most endemic countries are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Peru,” according to the CDC.

The human plague persists because it can survive under the ground for years. Animals that burrow underground can pick it up. The article was short of information. It made me think people can get infected and be carriers. However, it may need the bite of an infected flee which changes that explanation. Dogs can carry those infected flees.

We had a dog infected with flees so bad, we had flees hopping all over the house. We didn’t even know he was infected until they started crawling up our leg. I think the flees came from the squirrels living in our trees and spreading them in the lawn. Lucky the flees weren’t carriers of infection.

[verum ago]

I understand the naming of this disease with the word “plague,” did not mean it was the original bubonic plague that killed tens of millions of people in Europe in the 14th century. I assumed it was the generic term for it. Little did I know that the infectious disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria is still hanging around and accounts for over 80 percent of U.S. plague cases.

Yersinia pestis accounts for all US plague cases- Y. pestis infection = plague. It's just that the disease has three courses- bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. 80% are bubonic plague. The other two make up the remainder.

Should you ever catch it, pray you get the bubonic variety- the other two are far worse, and pneumonic plague accounts for stories from the Black Death of things like people going to sleep healthy and never awakening in the morning. Septicemic plague is one of the handful of human infectious diseases that is 100% fatal when untreated.

I grew up in the intermountain west being cautioned to be careful around rodents because of plague and tularemia (which is also in the news due to a current case)...

The good news is that we in the US don't suffer from epidemics of plague, due to our first world hygiene (not many houses swarming with fleas) and good antibiotics. Other places where plague is endemic, namely several countries in South America and Africa aren't so lucky.

I actually know a guy who caught plague as a kid. He forever gets the bragging rights of having survived the actual Black Plague!