A teenager has been diagnosed with bubonic plague, said Oregon officials. Though the plague is rare, authorities are baffled by the rise in the cases this year. Officials think that the girl has suffered from the plague due to a flea bite.

As per health officials, the girl went on a hunting trip on October 16 near Heppner, which is near the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the northeastern part of Oregon. During that trip, the girl has been infected.

On October 21, the girl fell sick and was later hospitalized. The girl continues to be in the intensive-care unit. Health officials have said that this plague can be treated with antibiotics if caught before. It is an infectious disease and its carriers are wild rodents and can be transmitted to fleas.

Through fleas, the infection can pass on to other animals or humans. Bubonic plague is the most common form of the disease, which affects the lymph nodes. Its symptoms include fever, chills, headache, weakness and cough.

There are two more types of plague- septicemic, which is blood infection and then there is pneumonic, which infects lungs. It cannot pass from human to human unless the person has lung infection and cough.

However, the Oregon Health Authority believes the unnamed victim contracted bubonic plague during a hunting trip in Heppner. Although the specific origin is unclear, officials suspect the teen was bitten by an infected flea.

Early bubonic plague symptoms include chills, fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and headache. As the initial symptoms can emulate other illness, patients are often misdiagnosed.

According to CDC statistics, between one and seventeen cases of bubonic plague are diagnosed in the United States each year. A majority of the cases occur in the rural west and are most prominent in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

However, as the Yersinia pestis bacteria quickly multiplies and spreads throughout the patient’s system the symptoms become more prominent and debilitating. Although bubonic plague can eventually lead to death, it is treatable with antibiotics.

Among the common symptoms of the disease is high fever, nausea, vomiting, and lethargy. Bubonic plague can be treated with antibiotics if caught early but can also lead to death if left unattended. A vaccine especially dedicated to cure the bubonic plage has not been made available yet.

In the 14th century, the plague was known as the Black Death. During that time, tens of millions of people were killed in Europe, Asia and Africa. Antibiotics can treat all types of plague, but the condition is infection has to be caught earlier.