Yes, NM still has cases. Some have said that rat urine on Pinon Pine nuts was a probable vector.
Pinon Pine nuts were widely collected and eaten by New Mexicans. I admit I have eaten them too. No longer, but it has been a very long time since I was in NM.
Welcome to New Mexico—Land of the Flea, Home of the Plague.
You’re thinking of Hanta virus. Plague here is the old fashioned variety carried by fleas from rodents. Usually a family pet gets them from a dead ground squirrel or sod poodle. Had a death a couple miles away a year or so ago.
So, the rats pee on the pine nuts instead of eating them? Who knew?
I remembered there was plague occasionally in NM and it was somehow connected to Pine nuts but I couldn’t quite remember how it was transmitted.