The mention of bubonic plague still sends shivers down the spines of people in much of the world. The disease ravaged Asia and Europe for at least 1,500 years, until the advent of antibiotics in the mid-20^th century. Many people today believe that plague has been eradicated, and are surprised to learn that the disease continues to thrive in much of the world, though in a rather different form from in its heyday.

Plague is but a shadow of its former self, but it refuses to go away completely. The United States and Madagascar, two reservoirs of the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause plague, continue to suffer regular outbreaks of the disease. While this scourge may well continue to decline to very low levels, its eradication will be all but impossible unless we understand better where these bacteria like to hide in between outbreaks.

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