Talking About the Plague

Despite what you might read in the media, plague is nowhere in your future.

Joe Alton, M.D. | October 9, 2026

These days, when you read about the plague, it’s usually in history books. You probably know that this infectious disease (once called the “Black Death”) depopulated much of Europe and Asia in the Middle Ages. What you might not know, however, is that plague outbreaks still occur today.

Recently, Russian media outlets have reported that Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old lab scientist, died several days after a broken test tube exposed her to Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the disease. Although no one else has fallen ill yet, almost 200 known contacts of the victim are under observation. As you can imagine, the press is wondering if she is patient zero in the next pandemic (and why she was handling plague germs).

A pandemic? Nope. Unlikely to become one, as well. In the 21st century, community-wide outbreaks of plague are rare; the worst are confined to the island of Madagascar, including one in 2017 that saw over 2000 cases and claimed more than 200 lives.

We may have all heard of it, but what, really, is the plague? Do rats or their fleas cause it, as many believe?

Plague is a highly infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. This bacterium is, indeed, found in fleas that infest rats and other rodents. The infection is transmitted from animal to animal (or human) when infected fleas jump on and bite a new host. Once established, different forms of plague can be spread by airborne droplets from coughs, in the blood, or even by contaminated........

© American Thinker