The bubonic plague—also called Black Death and considered the "greatest catastrophe ever' having killed millions of people at one point in medieval history—has reappeared in the United States, claiming a second victim last week in Colorado.
The deadly and ghastly disease is considered a kind of pestilence mentioned in the Bible as one of the signs heralding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The other prophecies linked with the end times—which are also happening now—including devastating earthquakes and fires.
With symptoms of unsightly buboes, or swollen glands, the disease appeared to be the one mentioned in Revelation 16:2: "The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and foul and grievous sores came on the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image."
The bubonic plague—which killed one-third of the European population in just a few years in the 14th Century—first struck the US in June this year when it claimed the life of athlete Taylor Gaes, 16, from Larimer County, Colorado. It was the first deadly plague case recorded in the United States since 2004, according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The second victim died from the disease last Tuesday, according to the Pueblo City County Health Department. It said the victim, who remained unidentified, might have contracted the disease from fleas on a dead rodent or other animal. The county health department said the disease can spread through rodent populations in a localised area that often results in mass animal "die-offs."
In May, bubonic plague infected a sick Colorado pit bull, which in turn infected its master, two veterinarian workers and possibly also a friend of the owner. Health authorities considered the case unique because it was the first time a dog had been identified as a source of human plague in the US. It was also the first possible human-to-human transmission of the disease since the bubonic plague outbreak in Los Angeles in 1924.
According to the CDC, there were 23 reported cases of plague in the US from 2010 to 2014.
It said between 1900 and 2012, there were 1,006 confirmed or probable human plague cases in the US, with more than 80 percent of these having the bubonic form.
Worldwide, plague epidemics have happened in Africa, Asia and South America, but most human cases since the 1990s were in Africa, the CDC said.
Plague is caused by the bacteria "Yersinia pestis," which live in rodents and their fleas.
The disease is transmitted to humans through flea bites, contact with contaminated fluid or tissue or infectious droplets. Symptoms include fever, chills, weakness and swollen and painful lymph nodes.
