
Bubonic Plague Strikes in Mongolia: Why Is It Still a Threat? (2019) - onetimemanytime
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/05/07/721167330/bubonic-plague-strikes-in-mongolia-why-is-it-still-a-threat
======
dmckeon
The plague is endemic in fleas on rodents and small wild animals in the US
Southwest. Most people who contract it are first treated with antibiotics
after presenting with the typical symptoms, and only a few days later do the
test results confirm the presumed diagnosis.

The riskiest situation is exposure to plague and then quickly traveling to
some other location where plague is rarely seen, and doctors at the
destination do not know to look at the symptoms as possibly plague, and to
tentatively treat for plague before testing confirms the diagnosis. Medical
groups in New Mexico have several time done public awareness programs using
the tag line: “Land of the flea, home of the plague.”

[https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html](https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html)

~~~
peter303
Prairie dogs in Colorado. A number of pet dogs and a human owner or two get it
each year. If recognized early, antibiotics work fine.

------
JoeAltmaier
Don't have to go that far to find it:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-
found-i...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/science/plague-is-found-in-new-
mexico-again.html)

------
walterkrankheit
That's a worrying bit of information... Bubonic still around in times of
coronavirus.

~~~
vikramkr
I mean, bubonic has been been around for a while, and as far as threats go
it's not exactly the highest on the list. Cholera, malaria, influenza, etc are
all quite a bit more dangerous to society, as is coronavirus while it's
actively spreading.

------
stevespang
35 years ago I dated a Continental airlines stewardess who told me as a young
girl she was diagnosed with the bubonic plague and treated. They never
discovered where she picked it up as a young girl in Texas.

~~~
onetimemanytime
did she tell before or after :) ...? I know, it's just an infection, but now
that's a conversation starter

