12. The Plague Still Exists Today…And You Can Catch It
A cure for the plague was found in the 1890s after it made a resurgence and people figured out the cause. In the 1980s researchers blamed other diseases such as anthrax and typhus for the plague. Why? Because their argument claimed other diseases spread more easily between people without the flea vector and can display similar symptoms. Luckily those ideas were put to rest in 2000 when a study of tooth pulp from a French mass grave showed the presence of Y. Pestis in all 20 samples from three victims.
Although a cure was found, you can still contract the plague. It’s rare today, but it still happens. Y. Pestis foci still exist in Asia, Russia, Southwest America, and other areas were host rodents, and fleas live. Today it’s rarely fatal except for one drawback. A cure for the septicemic plague has never been found, and it has a 100% mortality rate. If you travel to any of these areas and see a flea on you, it’s unlikely you’ll catch septicemic plague since it’s so rare, but it could happen.