7 year old Sierra Jane Downing is currently recovering from a case of the plague. She unfortunately was infectecd by fleas off of a dead squirrel that she insisted be buried. The doctors found insect bite marks around her waist area, where she put on her sweatshirt after burying the squirrel. After returning from the camping trip, parents thought she simply had a case of the flu, however when she started seizing with a 107 Farenheit fever, they took her to the hospital. The doctors, after examining her swollen lymph nodes and bite marks, diagnosed her with bubonic plague and, after being treated with antibiotics, Sierra recovered. Doctors said that if parents had waited even just 24 more hours, the symptoms would have overwhelmed little Sierra and she would have died. Luckily, she got the cure in time and is now alive and well after being released a week from her ordeal.
Madagascars conditions are nearly perfect for the plague. The nation is overcrowded and dirty, with plenty of rodents around to carry the disease. Since just the beginning of this year,, Madagascar has had over 256 confirmed cases of the plage and 60 deaths. The CDC and ICRC writes that there have been 500 cases recorded on the island every year since 2009! Its not only Madagascar. Theres been nearly epidemic outbreaks in more than 15 countries worldwide, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar (of course) and other South American countries. Its all because these places have such poor health conditions. It is thought that this outbreak in Madagascar began in the prisons, because of their unsanitation and overpopulation of rodents.