Isabella Leverone

In August 2025 a person in California tested positive for the plague from an infected flea on a camping trip.

Since August 2025, the United States has estimated up to 17 cases of the plague per year. The plague today is a little bit different from the plague we all recognize, also known as the bubonic plague. Although the symptoms are similar in many ways, the severity has definitely changed. The symptoms are most commonly fever, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, and weakness. The only difference between the older version of the plague and this one is that they had swollen lymph nodes, or buboes. The modern plague is much less dangerous and concerning, whereas the old plague was said to have killed about 20-50 million people in Europe.

The plague has been in existence for thousands of years. These days, it’s usually carried by squirrels or similar animals, which were most likely infected by a flea bite that contained the plague. Today, there are lots of remedies that can protect us from the plague, such as vaccines and medicines, but back in the day, they didn’t have the resources.

Plague doctors who worked on the patients wore a mask that almost resembled the beak of a bird to protect them from the air around the infected patients. The masks are one of the most well known things from that outbreak that is still seen to this day, and is also used for Halloween costumes.

The bubonic plague is the most commonly known strain of the plague, but the most deadly is the pneumonic plague. Both are deadly, but the pneumonic plague was ultimately the cause of the majority of the deaths back in the day. The plague is something that seemed to kind of die off as time passed, but hearing about the most recent case, I was shocked to learn that something as serious as the plague was being taken so much more lightly than before. It’s a very serious illness, but it is definitely different from the “Black Death” pandemic.