Bubonic Plague is an infectious disease of animals and humans caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis. People usually get plague from the bite of a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an infected animal. Millions of people in Europe died from plague in the Middle Ages, when flea-infested rats inhabited human homes and places of work. Today, modern antibiotics are effective against the plague, but if an infected person …showed first 75 words of 2048 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2048 total…-1998 Microsoft Corporation. "Black Death," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, “Plague,” World Wide Web Internet Website, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plagindex.htm, last update: 7-2-99. Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe, World Wide Web Internet Website, http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/osheim/, last update: 11-1-94. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, 25th Edition, William R. Hensyl, copyright 1990, Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore.