What causes bubonic plague?

What causes bubonic plague?

Bubonic plague is a type of infection caused by the Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis) bacterium which is spread mostly by fleas on rodents and other animals. Humans who are bitten by the fleas then can come down with plague. It’s an example of a disease that can spread between animals and people (a zoonotic disease).

It can be noted that cats in particular are vulnerable to plague and can be infected by eating sick rodents. These cats can pass droplets infected with plague to their owners or to the veterinarians that treat them.

Person-to-person spread is unlikely, except in rare cases of someone who has pneumonic plague (infected lungs) spreading plague through droplets sprayed into the air. In other rare cases, people have been infected with pneumonic plague by their dogs or cats.