--- title: Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague description: A 16-year-old girl in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague after returning from a hunting trip canonical: https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-30T11:43:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:39:42.728Z article:section: Health og:title: Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague og:description: A 16-year-old girl in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague after returning from a hunting trip og:url: https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf881694754be5714/69886ee58e0601d5cc46317c/girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1163&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1163 og:image:height: 654 og:image:alt: Girl og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague twitter:description: A 16-year-old girl in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague after returning from a hunting trip twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf881694754be5714/69886ee58e0601d5cc46317c/girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1163&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=252cfa8d-8c3d-4b33-998c-fc8675d502e8&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Oregon Teen Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague After Hunting Trip [Watch (HLS stream): Oregon Teen Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague After Hunting Trip](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ky8r5YvG.m3u8) (0:33)  _Published 2015-10-30. A 16-year-old girl in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague. Officials believe she contracted it from a flea bite while on a hunting trip._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 30, 2015 11:43 AM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 30, 2015 11:43 AM UTC A 16-year-old girl in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague after returning from a hunting trip. Oregon health officials said she likely contracted the illness from a flea bite on the trip, [KGW News reports](http://www.kgw.com/story/news/2015/10/29/oregon-girl-16-diagnosed-bubonic-plague-after-hunting-trip/74836918/). She has been admitted to an intensive care unit in the hospital, and no other members of the county have been infected. “Many people think of the plague as a disease of the past, but it’s still very much present in our environment, particularly among wildlife,” state public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess told KGW. “Fortunately, plague remains a rare disease, but people need to take appropriate precautions with wildlife and their pets to keep it that way.” Epidemiologists with Oregon Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working with local authorities to investigate the incident. Bubonic plague is treatable with antibiotics if it is caught early enough. ## Transcript A 16- year- old in Oregon has been diagnosed with bubonic plague. According to the Oregon health authority, the girl likely caught the plague from a flea bite while on a hunting trip. Officials believe she is the only one infected. The bubonic plague is generally found in the western part of the country in fleas and rodents and is usually contracted from flea bites. According to an August report from the CDC, 11 human plague cases reported in the US this year, including an earlier case in Oregon. Symptoms of Bubonic Plague include swollen lymph nodes, fever and chills. Plague is treatable with antibiotics. 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