--- 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: 2026-02-22T12:13:15.407Z 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=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 30, 2015 11:43 AM UTC  Silhouette Of Girls Face Silhouette Of Girls FaceGetty Images  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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/"},"headline":"Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague","datePublished":"2015-10-30T11:43:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:13:15.407Z","description":"\"Many people think of the plague as a disease of the past, but it's still very much present\"","url":"https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/","keywords":["Disease","oregon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf881694754be5714/69886ee58e0601d5cc46317c/girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf881694754be5714/69886ee58e0601d5cc46317c/girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Girl","caption":"Girl","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/disease/","name":"Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4094046/oregon-girl-bubonic-plague/","name":"Oregon Girl Diagnosed With Bubonic Plague"}}]}] ```