Plague

Plague Case Confirmed Near Lake Tahoe After Likely Flea Bite

It's the first confirmed case of the plague—the same disease that wiped out millions in the 14th century—in the region since 2020.

Health Natalia Mesa Aug 20

A Cat in Oregon Gave Bubonic Plague to Its Owner

The victim then developed septicemic plague and was hospitalized, health officials reported.

Health Ed Cara Feb 12

Prehistoric Pathogens: Oldest Plague Cases in Britain Date to the Bronze Age

4,000-year-old remains in Somerset and Cumbria carried the bacteria that causes plague.

Human History Isaac Schultz May 30

The Plague Is More Likely Now Thanks to Climate Change

A new study examines how rising temperatures in the western U.S. have influenced plague outbreaks. Yes, that plague.

Climate Change Molly Taft Nov 19

Someone in Wyoming Caught the Plague From Their Cats

Plague is rare in the U.S., but wild animals and free-roaming pets—and their fleas—can still carry the bacteria and infect us.

Health Ed Cara Sep 17

Scientists Say They’ve Found the Earliest Case of the Plague Yet

The discovery of the bacteria in a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer suggests it took time for plague to become the fearsome disease we know today.

Health Ed Cara Jun 29

A Brief History of Medical Face Masks

If you happened to find yourself in 17th-century Naples, you were in for a rough time. The Plague of 1656 was in full swing and would claim an estimated 300,000 lives in Naples alone. If you were one of the unlucky souls to come down with the buboes and high fever symptomatic of the disease,…

Health Sarah Durn May 29

How Medieval People Tried to Dance Away the Plague

It was a warm June day in 1374 in the medieval town of Aix-Ia-Chapelle, present-day Aachen, Germany, when the dancing started. It was the holy feast of St. John the Baptist, which aligns with the pagan celebration of Midsummer during the summer solstice. Traditionally, St. John’s Day was a day of rest and worship for…

Tech News Sarah Durn Apr 28

Photo: Todd Parker, Ph.D., Assoc Director for Laboratory Science, Div of Preparedness and Emerging Infections at CDC

Don’t Panic About the ‘Black Death Plague’

You may have seen alarming headlines today warning of the “Black Death plague” that’s believed to have infected two people in China. But while there are real reasons for public health officials and residents in that area of the world to be concerned, there’s no reason to fear a deadly pandemic. On Tuesday, health officials…

Health Ed Cara Nov 13

Plague-Infected Prairie Dogs Force Areas Near Denver to Be Closed to Public

Plague-infected fleas affecting prairie dog colonies have forced closures in parts of Colorado, including wildlife areas and a suburb of Denver, as authorities say the fleas could spread the disease to pets and people. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge was forced to undergo a temporary closure as a “precautionary measure” last month while…

Tech News Catie Keck Aug 19

Scientists Sequenced the Genes of Ancient Plague Bacteria That Spread the ‘First Pandemic’

Scientists have gained some insight into one of the first known calamities to visit mankind: a two century-long pandemic caused by the bacterial disease plague. Studying the remains of plague victims, the researchers say they were able to sequence the genomes of plague strains that devastated the Roman Empire starting in the 6th century. They…

Health Ed Cara Jun 6

Here’s How the Government Shutdown Is Affecting Spam Robocalls

The two main agencies that are supposed to be helping monitor robocalls—the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—halted operation 25 days ago because of the government shutdown. So how is that affecting the robocall plague? The first noticeable change, as the Washington Post reported, was when the FTC stopped running the…

Privacy & Security Jennings Brown Jan 16

Scientists Match Pollution in Greenland’s Ice Sheet to Events from Ancient Greece and Rome

We tend to associate industrial pollution with the modern era, but human civilizations have been contaminating the planet for thousands of years. By drilling deep into Greenland’s ice sheet, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has chronicled the industrial waste produced by the ancient Greeks and Romans over a 1,900-year period, linking pollution to economic booms,…

Tech News George Dvorsky May 16

Humans, Not Rats, May Have Been Responsible for Spreading the Black Death

The Black Death, a plague responsible for killing around a third of the population of Europe during the 14th century, spread to millions of humans by rats that carried infected fleas—right? That’s the story we’ve long been told by historians. A new study upends this conventional thinking, showing that humans, and not rodents, were the…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jan 16

Madagascar Is Fighting a Deadly Outbreak of Plague

The World Health Organization has delivered more than a million doses of antibiotics to Madagascar amid a raging epidemic of plague in which at least 33 people have died and 230 others have been infected, the BBC reported. The first confirmed death from the epidemic began on August 28th in the town of Moramanga, per…

Health Tom McKay Oct 7

The Plague Has Been Around For a Lot Longer Than We Thought

The Black Death wiped out nearly half the population of Europe during the 14th Century, a blight that swept through the continent in the gut of fleas. But a new analysis of ancient human DNA shows that the dreaded bacteria emerged at least 3,000 years before the first plague pandemic—a time before it mutated into…

Tech News George Dvorsky Oct 23

A Child in Los Angeles Has the Plague

A Los Angeles County child is recovering from the plague, and public health agencies are searching the wilderness for the source of the infection. It’s the third case of plague this year in the U.S. The first two both happened in Colorado, and both were fatal. Earlier this week, an adult in Pueblo County, Colorado,…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Aug 9

Why Do People Still Get the Plague?

People don’t die of the Black Plague in the 21st century — except when they do. And the disease won’t be going away any time soon. Earlier this month, a high school student in Colorado died of the disease. On average, seven people in the U.S. catch the plague every year; some years, it’s only…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Jun 24

A Teen Just Died of Plague in Colorado

It’s supposed to be a disease of the middle ages, but every year a few people in the United States contract the bacterial infection that killed half the population of London in the fourteenth century. The latest victim of plague was a high school student in rural Colorado. 16-year-old Taylor Gaes was an athlete who…

Health Annalee Newitz Jun 22

200 Skeletons Have Been Discovered Beneath A Supermarket In Paris

Archaeologists in Paris have found the skeletal remains of 200 individuals laid out neat rows in a communal grave. The site, once the cemetery of a hospital that operated from the 12th to 17th Century, is now a supermarket. The Monoprix Réaumur-Sébastopol supermarket called in archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research…

io9 George Dvorsky Mar 2

Plague

Plague Case Confirmed Near Lake Tahoe After Likely Flea Bite

A Cat in Oregon Gave Bubonic Plague to Its Owner

Prehistoric Pathogens: Oldest Plague Cases in Britain Date to the Bronze Age

The Plague Is More Likely Now Thanks to Climate Change

Someone in Wyoming Caught the Plague From Their Cats

Scientists Say They’ve Found the Earliest Case of the Plague Yet

A Brief History of Medical Face Masks

How Medieval People Tried to Dance Away the Plague

Don’t Panic About the ‘Black Death Plague’

Plague-Infected Prairie Dogs Force Areas Near Denver to Be Closed to Public

Scientists Sequenced the Genes of Ancient Plague Bacteria That Spread the ‘First Pandemic’

Here’s How the Government Shutdown Is Affecting Spam Robocalls

Scientists Match Pollution in Greenland’s Ice Sheet to Events from Ancient Greece and Rome

Humans, Not Rats, May Have Been Responsible for Spreading the Black Death

Madagascar Is Fighting a Deadly Outbreak of Plague

The Plague Has Been Around For a Lot Longer Than We Thought

A Child in Los Angeles Has the Plague

Why Do People Still Get the Plague?

A Teen Just Died of Plague in Colorado

200 Skeletons Have Been Discovered Beneath A Supermarket In Paris

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