14 Cases of Bubonic Plague Reported in U.S.

ATLANTA — Federal health officials today reported that 14 cases of the bubonic plague--the “Black Death” that wiped out a third of the world’s population in the Middle Ages--have surfaced in the United States so far this year.

The plague is now curable, but officials monitor each case closely in hopes of preventing an epidemic of plague-induced pneumonia like the one that killed 33 people in Los Angeles in 1924. More than 90% of plague infections occur in the Southwest, officials said.