Look what the cat dragged in: Why the plague won’t go away

John Elder
Feb 14, 2024

A sick cat infected its owner with the bubonic plague. No flea bite involved.

The plague lives on. The good old Black Death may have passed its prime – killing more than 25 million people in Europe in the 14th century – but it keeps bobbing up.

This week, a resident of Deschutes County, Oregon, was diagnosed with bubonic plague – and the person’s cat, sick with symptoms, appears to have passed it on.

The bacteria that causes the plague, Yersinia pestis, is most commonly passed on to humans in a flea bite.

But in this instance, the cat probably infected its owner via plague droplets. Cute little sneezes turned deadly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), cats are “particularly susceptible to plague, and can be infected by eating infected rodents”.

Several cases of human plague “have occurred in the United States in recent decades as a result of contact with infected cats”.

The last confirmed case of plague in Oregon was 2015. To learn more about plague in cats, see here.

See a doctor before the black boils settle in

According to the World Health Organisation, bubonic plague is the most common form of plague.

When you’re bitten by an infected flea, Yersinia pestis, enters at the bite and travels through the lymphatic system to the nearest lymph node where it replicates itself.

A plague doctor from the bad old days. Photo: Getty

The lymph node then becomes inflamed, tense and painful, and is called a ‘bubo’. At advanced stages of the infection the inflamed lymph nodes can turn into open sores filled with pus.

Human-to-human transmission of bubonic plague is rare.

Bubonic plague can advance and spread to the lungs, which is the more severe type of plague called pneumonic plague.

What to look for, just in case

The last cases of human plague in Australia occurred in the 1920s. Between 1900 and 1910, an epidemic killed about 550 people.

There are up to 2000 confirmed cases of plague globally each year, and most of those occur in Madagascar.

And while Australia seemingly remains plague free, the disease might hitch a ride with overseas travellers.

Plague now and then occurs in many countries in Africa, the former Soviet Union, the Americas and Asia.

For the sake of giving yourself a fright, bubonic plague symptoms include:

• Sudden high fever and chills
• Pains in the areas of the abdomen, arms and legs
• Headaches.

As do flu and viral infections. So keep your eyes peeled for those large and swollen lumps in the lymph nodes (buboes) that develop and leak pus.

Symptoms of septicemic plague may include blackened tissue from gangrene, often involving the fingers or toes.

The plague is a rapidly progressing disease that can lead to death if untreated.

If you suspect you have it, call a doctor right away or go to an emergency room for immediate medical attention.

What happened to the cat?

Both resident and cat have been treated with antibiotics, intimates have been examined, and the risk of the disease spreading is very low.

A Deschutes County health official, in a statement, advised: Fortunately, “this case was identified and treated in the earlier stages of the disease, posing little risk to the community”.

How is the plague persisting

According to Healthline, the risk of plague is highest in areas that have poor sanitation, overcrowding, and a large population of rodents.

Over the past 20 years, nearly all cases have been reported among people living in small and agricultural villages rather than overcrowded cities.

According to the CDC, plague occurs in rural and semi-rural areas of the western US.

In the semi-arid upland forests and grasslands many types of rodent species can be carrying the bacteria.

These include rock squirrels, wood rats, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, chipmunks, mice, voles, and rabbits. Wild carnivores can become infected by eating other infected animals.

Scientists think “plague bacteria circulate at low rates within populations of certain rodents without causing excessive rodent die-off”.

These infected animals and their fleas “serve as long-term reservoirs for the bacteria”. This is called the enzootic cycle.

Where it really started in the US was in the early 20th century, with the steamships bringing rats and their fleas from abroad.

And there is no getting rid of rats or these other rodents. It has been tried.

And if we can’t get rid of rodents, we can’t get rid of the plague.

Justinianic Plague was nothing like flu and may have struck England before it reached Constantinople, new study suggests

by University of Cambridge

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th– 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries.

The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia.

The Justinianic Plague is the first known outbreak of bubonic plague in west Eurasian history and struck the Mediterranean world at a pivotal moment in its historical development, when the Emperor Justinian was trying to restore Roman imperial power.

For decades, historians have argued about the lethality of the disease; its social and economic impact; and the routes by which it spread. In 2019-20, several studies, widely publicised in the media, argued that historians had massively exaggerated the impact of the Justinianic Plague and described it as an 'inconsequential pandemic'. In a subsequent piece of journalism, written just before COVID-19 took hold in the West, two researchers suggested that the Justinianic Plague was 'not unlike our flu outbreaks'.

In a new study, published in Past & Present, Cambridge historian Professor Peter Sarris argues that these studies ignored or downplayed new genetic findings, offered misleading statistical analysis and misrepresented the evidence provided by ancient texts.

Sarris says: "Some historians remain deeply hostile to regarding external factors such as disease as having a major impact on the development of human society, and 'plague scepticism' has had a lot of attention in recent years."

Sarris, a Fellow of Trinity College, is critical of the way that some studies have used search engines to calculate that only a small percentage of ancient literature discusses the plague and then crudely argue that this proves the disease was considered insignificant at the time.

Sarris says: "Witnessing the plague first-hand obliged the contemporary historian Procopius to break away from his vast military narrative to write a harrowing account of the arrival of the plague in Constantinople that would leave a deep impression on subsequent generations of Byzantine readers. That is far more telling than the number of plague-related words he wrote. Different authors, writing different types of text, concentrated on different themes, and their works must be read accordingly."

Sarris also refutes the suggestion that laws, coins and papyri provide little evidence that the plague had a significant impact on the early Byzantine state or society. He points to a major reduction in imperial law-making between the year 546, by which point the plague had taken hold, and the end of Justinian's reign in 565. But he also argues that the flurry of significant legislation that was made between 542 and 545 reveals a series of crisis-driven measures issued in the face of plague-induced depopulation, and to limit the damage inflicted by the plague on landowning institutions.

In March 542, in a law that Justinian described as having been written amid the 'encircling presence of death', which had 'spread to every region', the emperor attempted to prop up the banking sector of the imperial economy.

In another law of 544, the emperor attempted to impose price and wage controls, as workers tried to take advantage of labour shortages. Alluding to the plague, Justinian declared that the 'chastening which has been sent by God's goodness' should have made workers 'better people' but instead 'they have turned to avarice'.

That bubonic plague exacerbated the East Roman Empire's existing fiscal and administrative difficulties is also reflected in changes to coinage in this period, Sarris argues. A series of light-weight gold coins were issued, the first such reduction in the gold currency since its introduction in the 4th century and the weight of the heavy copper coinage of Constantinople was also reduced significantly around the same time as the emperor's emergency banking legislation.

Sarris says: "The significance of a historical pandemic should never be judged primarily on the basis of whether it leads to the 'collapse' of the societies concerned. Equally, the resilience of the East Roman state in the face of the plague does not signify that the challenge posed by the plague was not real."

"What is most striking about the governmental response to the Justinianic Plague in the Byzantine or Roman world is how rational and carefully targeted it was, despite the bewilderingly unfamiliar circumstances in which the authorities found themselves.

"We have a lot to learn from how our forebears responded to epidemic disease, and how pandemics impacted on social structures, the distribution of wealth, and modes of thought."

Bubonic plague in England

Until the early 2000s, the identification of the Justinianic Plague as 'bubonic' rested entirely upon ancient texts which described the appearance of buboes or swellings in the groins or armpits of victims. But then rapid advances in genomics enabled archaeologists and genetic scientists to discover traces of the ancient DNA of Yersinia pestis in Early Medieval skeletal remains. Such finds have been made in Germany, Spain, France and England.

In 2018, a study of DNA preserved in remains found in an early Anglo-Saxon burial site known as Edix Hill in Cambridgeshire revealed that many of the interred had died carrying the disease. Further analysis revealed that the strain of Y. pestis found was the earliest identified lineage of the bacterium involved in the 6th-century pandemic.

Sarris says: "We have tended to start with the literary sources, which describe the plague arriving at Pelusium in Egypt before spreading out from there, and then fitted the archaeological and genetic evidence into a framework and narrative based on those sources. That approach will no longer do. The arrival of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean around 541 and its initial arrival in England possibly somewhat earlier may have been the result of two separate but related routes, occurring some time apart."

The study suggests that the plague may have reached the Mediterranean via the Red Sea, and reached England perhaps via the Baltic and Scandanavia, and from there onto parts of the continent.

The study emphasises that despite being called the 'Justinianic Plague', it was "never a purely or even primarily Roman phenomenon" and as recent genetic discoveries have proven, it reached remote and rural sites such as Edix Hill, as well as heavily populated cities.

It is widely accepted that the lethal and virulent strain of bubonic plague from which the Justinianic Plague and later the Black Death would descend had emerged in Central Asia by the Bronze Age before evolving further there in antiquity.

Sarris suggests that it may be significant that the advent of both the Justinianic Plague and the Black Death were preceded by the expansion of nomadic empires across Eurasia: the Huns in the 4th and 5th centuries, and the Mongols in the 13th.

Sarris says: "Increasing genetic evidence will lead in directions we can scarcely yet anticipate, and historians need to be able to respond positively and imaginatively, rather than with a defensive shrug."

New call to examine old narratives: Infectious disease modeling study casts doubt on the Justinianic Plague's impact

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More information: Peter Sarris, New Approaches to the 'Plague of Justinian', Past & Present (2021). DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gtab024

Provided by University of Cambridge 

A sharper picture of a pandemic: new study uncovers the complex history of the plague after the Black Death

Estonian Research Council

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image: 

Multiple burial of plague victims from Domat/Ems, Sogn Pieder (Switzerland) associated with the Plague of the Thirty Years’ War (c.1629–1631). Analyses of individual 24 yielded a full Yersinia pestis genome. Image credit: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Grisons.

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Credit: Image credit: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Grisons.

The Black Death is often remembered as a single catastrophic event that swept across Europe between 1347 and 1353, killing millions. Yet the disease did not disappear after that first devastating outbreak. For over four centuries, plague continued to return in recurring waves, reshaping communities, economies, and societies across Europe and beyond. A new study led by researchers at the University of Tartu sheds fresh light on this long and complex history by analysing the DNA of the plague bacterium preserved in archaeological human remains.

The researchers reconstructed 26 genomes of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague, from 11 archaeological sites in Estonia, Russia, England, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The samples span a period from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, covering much of the so-called Second Plague Pandemic.

The results reveal the complex history of plague with unprecedented resolution. Rather than persisting in a single location after the Black Death, plague repeatedly resurfaced in different parts of Europe over several centuries, seeding multiple new reservoirs. The researchers found evidence that plague was introduced multiple times into Estonia throughout much of the Second Plague Pandemic, showing that close connections with other parts of Europe also facilitated the spread of disease.

One of the study's most notable findings was evidence of a major expansion of plague lineages around 1450–1500. During this period, the bacterium diversified into three major branches that may have established new reservoirs in wild rodent populations.

The researchers speculate that climatic changes could have played a role. One possible factor is the Great Renaissance Drought. Modern studies have shown that climate strongly influences plague outbreaks among wild rodents, which serve as natural reservoirs of the disease.

“We found evidence for repeated introductions of plague into Estonia starting already in the late 14th century and identified several previously unknown genetic lineages, both in urban and rural settings” said senior author Prof. Kristiina Tambets.

 

More precise timeframe

One of the most innovative aspects of the study was a new method for assigning historical plague outbreaks to recovered plague genomes. The importance of this approach can be illustrated by comparing it with the COVID-19 pandemic. During the coronavirus crisis, scientists were able to track the spread of different variants because genome sequences came with precise collection dates. Historical pandemics are different: ancient remains are often dated only within broad radiocarbon intervals that can span more than a century.

“With COVID-19, scientists could reconstruct the spread of individual strains extremely well because the genomes came with precise timestamps. For historical pandemics, those timestamps are often missing or may cover more than 100 years, which limits our ability to interpret the genetic data,” the main author, Dr Marcel Keller, explained.

To overcome this challenge, the research team developed a method that improves the precision and accuracy of those intervals. By analysing the position of plague genomes on the bacterium's evolutionary tree, they were able to narrow down the likely dates of many samples and place them into a much clearer historical context.

The researchers then used these improved dates to reassess 64 previously published and 11 newly sequenced plague genomes. The result is the first systematic attempt to link nearly all currently available plague genomes from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries with historically documented outbreaks.

“We were able to improve dating intervals for many samples, which allowed us to connect them to specific plague waves and outbreaks that were recorded in the respective towns or regions by chroniclers,” said historian and corresponding author Prof. Philip Slavin.

War helped spread disease

The study also highlights how strongly human activity shaped the course of plague epidemics. Newly analysed genomes provide additional evidence for outbreaks associated with the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and the Great Northern War (c. 1700–1721). According to the researchers, plague frequently spread along the same routes used by armies, refugees and traders.

“We see how Yersinia pestis splits into new branches during periods of conflict and spreads along the routes travelled by troops and displaced populations,” said senior author Dr Christiana L. Scheib.

The findings offer new insights into plague outbreaks during the Great Northern War. In Tallinn, for example, plague caused casualties among Swedish and Russian troops as well as civilians during the 1710 siege.

More broadly, the research shows that plague was not a single historical disaster but a recurring threat that devastated cities and regions generation after generation.

Why it matters today

Although plague is no longer a major public health threat in Europe, the disease has not disappeared. Yersinia pestis still survives in natural rodent reservoirs in several parts of the world.

The researchers argue that understanding how plague established itself after the Black Death, persisted for centuries, and eventually disappeared from Europe can help scientists better understand the long-term dynamics of infectious diseases.

By linking ancient plague genomes to historical outbreaks and potential reservoir populations, the study provides new insights into how pandemics emerge, spread and persist over time. Such knowledge may also contribute to modern disease surveillance and public health efforts to monitor contemporary plague foci.

Collaboration across countries and disciplines

The study was made possible through extensive international collaboration. Samples and expertise came from partners across Europe, including researchers at the University of Cambridge and collaborators in the Netherlands and Switzerland. By combining ancient DNA research, archaeology, history, and radiocarbon dating, the team has produced the most comprehensive genetic picture of the Second Plague Pandemic to date and provided new insights into how one of history's deadliest diseases shaped Europe for centuries.

Read more: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2534899123

Schematic workflow from data generation to the Phylogenetically Informed Radiocarbon Modeling and historical contextualization. Icons are modified from Flaticon.com.

Credit

University of Tartu. Icons are modified from Flaticon.com.

Plague burials from Domat/Ems, Sogn Pieder (Switzerland) associated with the Plague of the Thirty Years’ War (c.1629–1631). Image credit: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Grisons.

Credit

Image credit: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Grisons

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2534899123

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A refined phylochronology of the second plague pandemic in Western Eurasia

Article Publication Date

10-Sep-2026

 

Russia denies plague death but quarantines hundreds without explanation

Copyright Ben Curtis/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Knarik Papoyan & Euronews Russian

Published on 06/10/2026 - 

Rospotrebnadzor said Darya Shipilova, 28, died of "pneumonia of unknown aetiology" with no links to her work at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, but imposed quarantine on her contacts, confined 60 colleagues inside the facility and restricted access to hospitals including a maternity ward.

Russian authorities have insisted a lab researcher who died in Siberia last week did not have the plague while quarantining nearly 200 of her contacts, confining more than 60 colleagues inside their institute and restricting access to multiple hospitals, all without explanation.

Darya Shipilova, 28, a researcher at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, was admitted to Shelekhov District Hospital in late September and died last Friday night.

Russia's national health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said biological samples from her body found no microorganisms linked to her professional work and that she died from "pneumonia of unknown aetiology."

The agency said its special commissions had found no accidents involving pathogenic microorganisms at the institute. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to rely solely on Rospotrebnadzor's statements.

Between 189 and 197 of Shipilova's contacts were placed under observation and quarantine, according to figures cited by independent and regional media.

Initial tests among those contacts returned negative. More than 60 staff members of the anti-plague institute were effectively confined inside the facility for several days.

Quarantine restrictions were also imposed on hospitals in Irkutsk, including a maternity ward, according to reporting by multiple regional and international outlets.

Patients at one facility said doctors cited plague as the reason. Relatives of a woman in labour were refused entry to the ward despite having paid for partner-assisted birth.

The head of neighbouring Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, initially said after Shipilova's death that she had died of plague, then amended this to "possibly plague".

Irkutsk regional authorities posted a message on Friday asking residents not to travel to the satellite town of Shelekhov because of plague, then deleted it.

Governor Igor Kobzev described the cause of death as "pneumonia of unknown aetiology" on Monday.

What are international authorities saying?

The World Health Organization said it assessed the public health risk from the incident as low to moderate for Irkutsk region, low for Russia as a whole and very low for the WHO European region.

It said Russian authorities had identified Shipilova's contacts and were monitoring them, and that they had detected no dangerous infectious disease agents among those contacts.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control told Euronews it was "closely following the situation" and was in contact with the WHO.

"We are aware of a case of pneumonia of unknown origin in eastern Russia that is suspected to be plague. This suspicion has not yet been confirmed," an ECDC representative said.

Rela

US authorities are also monitoring developments, while Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have strengthened sanitary controls at their borders with Russia.

Uzbekistan has also strengthened its public-health preparedness after reports of a suspected case of a particularly dangerous infectious disease in Russia’s Irkutsk region, while stressing that the diagnosis has not yet been confirmed.

Online theories swirl

Two unofficial theories have circulated in Russian media. The first, reported by Telegram channels SHOT and Baza, holds that Shipilova accidentally broke a test tube containing the plague pathogen in the laboratory.

Several specialists consider this unlikely, noting that work with high-risk pathogens is conducted inside sealed safety cabinets with protective suits and strict decontamination protocols.

The second theory is that the infection was acquired during field research in a region with natural plague reservoirs. The head of Buryatia publicly denied that Shipilova had visited the region.

The official diagnosis has not been confirmed or ruled out by published PCR test results.

Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Its most common form, bubonic plague, affects the lymphatic system. Pneumonic plague, which can spread between people via airborne droplets, is considered the most dangerous.

Russia's most recent confirmed human cases were recorded in the Altai region in 2014, 2015 and 2016, all involving people who handled marmots.

Human plague cases in Russia remain rare despite natural reservoirs existing in several regions.

EU countries to discuss suspected plague outbreak in Russia

Copyright Alexander Zemlianichenko/Copyright 2021 The AP. All rights reserved.

By Jorge Liboreiro

Published on 06/10/2026 -  EURONEWS

European health authorities are closely following the suspected plague outbreak in Siberia, Russia. The European Commission and member states are set to discuss the matter on Wednesday morning.

Representatives from the European Commission and member states plan to discuss the suspected outbreak of pneumonic plague in Siberia, Russia, as national authorities scramble to get a clear picture of the situation.

A meeting of the Health Security Committee, which evaluates serious cross-border health threats, will take place on Wednesday morning in Brussels. The meeting was already scheduled, but the item has been added to the running order.

"I can confirm the incident in Russia will be on the agenda of the Health Security Committee," a Commission spokesperson told Euronews.

The case revolves around a female lab worker at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute, in south-eastern Siberia, who died on 2 October in uncertain circumstances. Her death was attributed to a "pneumonia of unknown aetiology".

Russian authorities say they have found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with and insist the situation is under control.

The hospital where the lab worker was treated was placed under quarantine. About 200 people who had been in touch with her went into strict medical observation.

Separately, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan introduced precautionary measures at their borders to prevent the possible spread of infectious diseases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that none of those people has shown symptoms so far and early testing has been negative, although it noted it was "unclear" which pathogens were tested.

The WHO noted the risk for the European region was "very low".

In a statement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said the suspicion of a plague outbreak was "not yet confirmed".

"There is little travel between Irkutsk and the EU, particularly at present due to Russia's war against Ukraine," the agency said.

"Based on the limited information currently available, there are no reports of secondary cases or sustained human-to-human transmission."

Brussels and Washington are closely monitoring the evolving situation and have urged Russia to provide accurate and transparent information.

Pneumonic plague occurs when plague, an infectious disease caused by bacteria, infects the lungs. It is the most serious form of the disease and can be spread from person to person. If left untreated, it has a case-fatality ratio of 30% to 100%.

 

Pneumonic plague suspected in Russia: What we know and what is the risk to Europe?

By Marta Iraola Iribarren

Published on 06/10/2026 - EURONEWS

The death of a staff member at an anti-plague institute in Russia following a laboratory accident has put the spotlight on plague and how it spreads.

A staff member at the anti-plague institute in Irkutsk, Russia, died after a test tube broke in the laboratory, regional media reported, citing unnamed sources close to the region’s security services.

Russian authorities said they found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with. But the case has raised alarm in Russia after unconfirmed media reports suggested she might have died of pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.

Russian media reported that around 200 people, who had been in contact with the deceased worker, were under strict medical observation and that several hospitals in the region were closed and placed under quarantine.

“As ... the contagion was in a lab (and has presumably well disinfected) and people were rapidly quarantined, it is highly unlikely that it will spread further- and thus, whilst it is contagious, it is unlikely to have the opportunity to spread,” Alice Hughes, professor of conservation science at the University of Melbourne, said in comments to the Science Media Centre.

Yet, public health authorities are following closely any developments.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) told Euronews that it is “closely monitoring the situation” and is in contact with the World Health Organization.

“We are aware of the case of pneumonia of unknown origin in eastern Russia that is suspected to be the plague. That suspicion is not yet confirmed,” a spokesperson said in a written statement.

The spokesperson added that based on the limited information currently available, there are no reports of secondary cases or sustained human-to-human transmission, and noted that there is “little travel” between Irkutsk and the European Union and European Economic Area countries, “particularly at present due to Russia’s war against Ukraine”.

Plague has been absent from Europe for more than 50 years; however, human cases are reported in Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.

Related

• EU monitors 'very closely' suspected outbreak of pneumonic plague in Russia

What do experts say about the risk?

While the information surrounding the suspected case in Russia is very limited, experts noted that sporadic pneumonic cases are not rare.

“Plague is not a historical disease,” said Zania Stamataki, associate professor of viral immunology at the University of Birmingham in comments to the Science Media Centre. “It remains endemic in rodent populations across Africa, Asia and the Americas, and human cases occur every year, including outbreaks of the pneumonic form.”

According to Brendan Wren, professor of microbial pathogenesis at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, “there shouldn’t be too much concern as the transmission of Yersinia pestis between humans is generally poor”.

What is pneumonic plague?

Pneumonic plague occurs when plague, an infectious disease caused by bacteria, infects the lungs.

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form of the disease and is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person. If left untreated, it has a case-fatality ratio of 30% to 100%.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is especially contagious and can trigger severe epidemics through human-to-human transmission via respiratory particles. However, recovery rates are high if the disease is detected and treated in time.

The incubation period can be as short as 24 hours and any infected person may pass it via respiratory particles to other humans.

What are the symptoms?

Pneumonic plague develops when bacteria spread to the lungs of a patient with untreated bubonic or septicemic plague, or when a person inhales infectious droplets coughed out by another person or animal infected.

Symptoms typically appear one to three days after infection. They include severe respiratory problems such as shortness of breath and coughing, often with bloody or watery mucus.

What is the treatment?

If untreated, pneumonic plague can be rapidly fatal. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for survival and to reduce complications. Common antibiotics used against enterobacteria can effectively cure the disease if given early.

“Plague is a serious infectious disease. However, it can be diagnosed and treated with antibiotics readily available in Europe,” the ECDC spokesperson noted.

In cases of pneumonic plague, patients should be isolated and their contacts traced and treated, the agency says on its website.

Are there vaccines?

The WHO does not recommend vaccination except for high-risk groups, such as laboratory personnel who are constantly exposed to infection and health-care workers.

Because human plague is rare in most parts of the world, public health agencies see no need to vaccinate people other than those at particularly high risk of exposure.