Is Bubonic Plague Still Around Today?

In the Middle Ages in the 1300s, black plague killed millions of people throughout Europe. Some estimates place the number at 75 million deaths. It's hard to imagine one disease killing so many people in a matter of a few years, yet it happened. There have been other pandemics of plague throughout history as well, but never to the extent as in the 1300s. Plague is a bacterial infection generally spread by the bite of a common flea. In the Middle Ages, living conditions were not exactly the cleanest or healthiest. The lack of hygiene and piles of refuse helped to bring rats into the cities. Since the rats thrived very well on all of the trash and food scraps lying around, they reproduced in great numbers and would come into people's homes searching for more food. The rats, unfortunately, carried fleas with them.

Some of the fleas were infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which was the cause of bubonic plague. Once people began falling ill from plague, it spread quickly among the crowded populations. As plague progresses, it can turn into a respiratory stage, which then is spread through sneezing or coughing. The droplets of moisture coming from the lungs carries the bacteria that has settled in the lungs. Therefore, plague was also spread from person to person, or even from handling the dead and coming into contact with the bacteria. So, is Bubonic plague a pestilence of the past? Hardly. It's still around today and every few years, a new outbreak is announced.