Plague News

Paris - "In some cases death came immediately; in others, after many days," the historian Procopius wrote as a terrifying disease scythed through Constantinople in 542 AD.

Cases of pneumonic plague have been reported in Madagascar during December 2013. Efforts to slow down the spread of bubonic plague by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Pasteur Institute, which began in 2012 appear unsuccessful.

Contrary to Bram Stoker's Drakula (1897) that has largely been accepted as the origin of modern-day vampire fiction, vampiric entities recorded in many cultures since prehistoric times do not necessarily involve blood-sucking activity.

The discovery of the London 14th century plague pits has triggered an interesting debate amongst scientists and historians: could the plague ever re-emerge on a similar level in the twenty-first century?

Denver - A young Colorado girl is reported to be recovering nicely in a local hospital after being diagnosed with Bubonic Plague. Sierra Jane Downing, 7 years-old, was on a picnic with her parents when she found a dead squirrel and asked to bury it.

Bend - An Oregon man has allegedly become ill with the bubonic plague after he was bitten by a stray cat. The man, who was trying to pull a mouse out of the cat's mouth when he was bitten, is in critical condition at the St. Charles Medical Center, Bend.

The plague pathogen originated in or near China. Then it evolved and emerged multiple times to cause global pandemics. And it spread far and wide, an international team of scientists has found using DNA fingerprinting analyses.

It's called the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. Relatively new to the United States, the insect has had a good summer, and people are reporting home invasions of an epic, creepy-crawly variety.

Val Marie - Bubonic plague, the nasty bacterial disease that wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in the middle ages, has been found in a gopher in a Canadian national park.

A Chicago university scientist has died, possibly due to exposure to bacteria related to the bubonic plague. Health officials say there are no signs of other infections.