The bubonic plague, which is caused by a bacterial infection, was chillingly known as “Black Death” when it wiped out some 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe in the Middle Ages.
Its dark moniker refers to the gangrenous blackening and death of body parts, including the fingers and toes, that can happen as the disease ravages the body, according to the BBC.
How is bubonic plague treated?
Unlike the 14th century, however, patients these days can be treated effectively with modern antibiotics, which can prevent complications and death.
What causes the bubonic plague?
The bubonic plague is the most common type of the disease, which is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis that live in some animals — mostly rodents — and their fleas.
Its name comes from the symptoms it causes: painful, swollen lymph nodes — or “buboes” — in the groin or armpit, according to the news outlet, which said there were 3,248 cases reported across the world, including 584 deaths, from 2010 to 2015.
How common is it?
Between 1,000 to 2,000 people get the plague each year, according to the World Health Organization, but that estimate is likely too low since it doesn’t account for unreported cases, CNN reported.
In the US, there have been as many as a few dozen cases every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2015, two people in Colorado died from the plague, according to the network.
From 2009 to 2018, China reported 26 cases and 11 deaths, Reuters reported.
What are the symptoms?
A person usually becomes sick between two and six days after being infected and may experience a variety of symptoms in addition to enlarged lymph nodes including fever, chills, headaches, muscle pain and fatigue.
The disease also can affect the lungs, causing a cough and chest pain, as well as difficulty breathing.
The bacteria also can infiltrate the bloodstream and cause sepsis, a life-threatening complication of an infection, which can lead to tissue damage and organ failure.
People can become infected from the bites of fleas, coming into contact with infected animals, and inhaling aerosolized droplets spread by people and animals.
The infection also could penetrate the body through a cut in the skin if the person came in close touch with the blood of an infected animal.
Are there any recent cases?
California health officials confirmed the first case of the plague in the state in five years on Aug. 18 — a South Lake Tahoe resident who may have been bitten by an infected flea while walking a dog.
This came shortly after authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia sealed off an entire village after a resident was confirmed to have died of bubonic plague on Aug. 6.
Almost a month earlier, a teenage boy also died in Mongolia. Health officials announced on July 14 that the boy died of bubonic plague just days after eating a marmot, a rodent known to carry the infection, CTV News reported.
A pair of brothers, aged 27 and 17, in the nearby Mongolian province of Khovd also contracted the plague on July 1 after they too ate marmots, Newsweek reported.
Meanwhile, a Colorado resident was infected with septicemic plague, state health officials confirmed July 16 — the first human case in the Centennial State since 2015.
Septicemic plague is one of the three main forms of plague — the other forms being bubonic and pneumonic.
This report came just after officials announced July 14 that a squirrel in Jefferson County, Colorado tested positive for the bubonic plague. The person had had contact with sick squirrels.