Plague (Diseases and Disorders)

Explains what plague is; different types, their symptoms, how they are spread, and their diagnosis and treatment; outbreaks throughout history, how people dealt with them, and their effects; and how plague is dealt with now.

Plague is a very old disease that will likely always be present. In many parts of the world, plague is endemic—it is present to some degree all the time. Unlike smallpox, scientists do not believe that plague can be eradicated, or completely eliminated from existence, because it lives in the bodies of millions of animals and in the fleas that spread it in many parts of the world.