Oregon Reports First Human Case of Bubonic Plague in Nearly a Decade

The case was identified in a resident of Deschutes County who was likely infected by their symptomatic house cat.

A bubonic plague smear, prepared from a lymph removed from an adenopathic lymph node, or bubo, of a plague patient, demonstrates the presence of the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes the plague in this undated photo. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Getty Images

Oregon health officials have confirmed a rare case of human plague in a resident who was likely infected by their symptomatic house cat.

In a statement issued on Feb. 7, Deschutes County Health Services said it was the state’s first human case of bubonic plague—known as the Black Death in the Middle Ages—since 2015.