You can still catch the plague.

At various times in history, the plague has been responsible for the disappearance of more than half of human beings in Europe, killing about 10,000 people a day in what is now Istanbul, and possibly even weakening the empire Roman. Earlier this month, the plague again raised its head and killed a couple in Mongolia. The Washington Post's two-stroke title sums it up very well: "A couple ate a raw marmot that would have health benefits. Then, they died of the plague. "

Although it makes sense, from a cosmic point of view, that the plague is another thing that happens in 2019, the plague has never gone anywhere. We just have the modern health precautions to avoid it now, as we do for many diseases that are just a few bites of undercooked meat not to kill us.

Every year in the United States, an average of seven people are still infected with the plague. The most common is bubonic, although they are all caused by the same bacteria. Nils Christian Stenseth, a biologist, told Pacific Standard earlier this year. It is caused by a bacteria that likes to live in rodents. However, in the past year, three cats in Wyoming have also been diagnosed with plague. According to an information sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flea bites are the primary means of transmitting the disease to humans. You can also get it by touching, scratching, coughing – or probably by ingesting roughly – an animal carrying the plague. "Especially sick cats," notes the fact sheet, which means that Wyoming cat owners must be careful. Dogs can also catch the plague, which is why the CDC also recommends not letting them sleep in your bed, in areas most affected by plague in the United States.

What are these areas? Mainly Western states. The plague came here at the beginning of the 20th^th century passing by rats hitched on ships from Asia, where it spread to rodents in states like California and New Mexico (a place where I recently took my dog ​​in his arms !). The prairie dog can also catch the plague. In fact, this is the animal-poster of the CDC's datasheet for infection. The Badlands National Park in South Dakota, where plague was detected in animals in 2009, has dramatic signs that warn "The prairie dogs have PLAGUE! "Visitors are advised not to get too close to the critters.

All this sounds scary, which is understandable because it is the PLAGUE. But while epidemics still occur – one person killed 209 people in Madagascar in 2017 – if you're in the United States, you're probably fine. We can thank modern protections such as insecticides, flea treatments and latex gloves for separating us from the bacteria that transmit them. The last urban epidemic in the United States occurred in 1925 in Los Angeles, according to the CDC. There is also a vaccine against the plague, but the disease is so rare that it is not even available in the United States. And even if you make catch the plague, you probably will not die: from 2000 to 2017, he killed a total of … 12 people in the United States. This low number is due to antibiotics. Also, stay away from prairie dogs and cook your marmots well.