The Black Death Surfaces in Colorado

A squirrel in Colorado tested positive for the bubonic plague, Jefferson County officials announced. The Black Death, which started in the 1300s, was the deadliest pandemic in human history, but today a human's chance of contracting the plague is quite low, ABC News reports. Even so, the WHO has classified it as a re-emerging disease as it has recently been making a comeback, per CNN. Public health officials warn that cats are highly susceptible to the plague and dogs can carry plague-infected fleas from rodents, and advise owners to keep pets from roaming freely outside their home where they might come into contact with wild animals. The plague is treatable with antibiotics if symptoms, which can include fever, chills, headache, nausea, and lymph node pain and swelling, are caught quickly. (A Mongolian teen recently died of the plague.)