Fleas and the Plague: The Small Vampire That Could

The plague is still with us! 137 million people died from it during the major epidemics that swept the globe in the 6th, 14th and 17th centuries. That's 10 times more than the 13 million victims of Joseph Stalin's purges of his perceived enemies in Russia in the 1930s. In the U.S. today, 1 person died of the plague in each of 2004 and 2005.

According to the Rocky Mountain National Park, the plague is prevalent in wild animals and is still spread by fleas. Unlike the earlier plagues that killed 90% of those exposed, antibiotics can now treat the disease. But untreated bubonic plague is still fatal in 50% of all cases. That old adage 'fed wildlife most often results in dead wildlife' might just pertain to you! http://www.nps.gov/archive/romo/visit/hazards.html

If you want to go hiking in Washington or Oregon state, where some other vampires were recently filming the movie Twilight, here's a good source. Just steer clear of the wildlife! http://www.nwhiker.com/wilderness.html

Image from the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center at Kansas State University
http://nabc.ksu.edu/content/factsheets/category/Plague Sphere: Related Content