Is plague still around?

Yes. In 2025, four countries reported 113 lab-confirmed human cases and 31 deaths to the World Health Organization. Most cases are in DR Congo and Madagascar.

One bacterium, Yersinia pestis. It lives in small mammals, such as rodents, and their fleas.

How do people catch plague?

Usually from the bite of an infected flea. People can also catch it through unprotected contact with infected body fluids or materials, or by breathing in respiratory particles from someone with pneumonic plague.

Yes. Antibiotics work against plague, and early diagnosis and treatment save lives. Without treatment, pneumonic and septicemic plague are fatal, and bubonic plague kills 30% to 60% of people.

Is there a plague vaccine?

WHO does not recommend plague vaccination except for high-risk groups, such as laboratory staff who work with the bacterium and health-care workers.

What Is Plague? Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Types

How people catch it

Flea bites. The most common way: a flea that fed on an infected animal bites a person.
Contact. Handling infected body fluids, tissue or contaminated materials without protection.
Breathing it in. Respiratory particles from a person with pneumonic plague. This is the only form that spreads easily between people.

Three forms of the same disease

All plague is the same bacterium. The name changes with where it attacks the body:

Bubonic plague: The most common form. The bacteria travel from a flea bite to the nearest lymph node, which becomes swollen and painful (a "bubo"). It rarely spreads between people, but it can move into the lungs or the blood.
Pneumonic plague: Plague in the lungs. The most dangerous and most contagious form: it can pass from person to person through respiratory particles, and symptoms can start in less than 24 hours.
Septicemic plague: Plague in the bloodstream. It can develop from either of the other forms and can cause organ failure.

Is it the same disease everywhere? How plague varies around the world

Symptoms

Symptoms usually start one to seven days after infection.

Bubonic: sudden fever, chills, head and body aches, weakness, nausea and vomiting, and painful, swollen lymph nodes.
Pneumonic: severe breathing problems such as shortness of breath and coughing, sometimes with blood.
Septicemic: bleeding under the skin, and in some cases bluish skin or tissue death in the extremities, such as fingers and toes.

If you have these symptoms after contact with fleas, rodents or sick animals in an area where plague occurs, see a doctor right away. Only a lab test can confirm plague.

Treatment

Antibiotics work against plague, and early treatment saves lives. Without treatment, bubonic plague kills 30% to 60% of people, and the pneumonic and septicemic forms are fatal. Untreated pneumonic plague can kill within 18 to 24 hours, which is why speed matters.

Where plague is found

In animals, plague exists on every continent except Oceania. Human cases happen where people live near those animal sources. Since the 1990s most human cases have been in Africa, especially DR Congo and Madagascar. See cases by country

Prevention and vaccines

Protect yourself from flea bites and don't handle dead animals in areas where plague is present. WHO does not recommend a plague vaccine except for high-risk groups, such as lab staff and health-care workers.

The Black Death was plague

In the 14th century, plague killed more than 50 million people in Europe. DNA taken from Black Death victims in London confirmed it was the same bacterium, Yersinia pestis.