According to healthcare officials, a teenaged girl in the state of Oregon in the United States has been diagnosed with having contracted the bubonic plague.

The girl from Crook County is believed to have contracted the disease from a flea bite during a hunting trip near Heppner in Morrow County. She went on a trip on 16 October and fell ill five dats after that and had to be hospitalized three days afterwards. She is still recovering at the intensive care unit at a hospital.

Healthcare officials said that state and federal epidemiologists are working with local health officials in order to investigate the illness. They said that no one else is believed to be infected with the disease. The bubonic plague is known to have been prevalent in medieval times but is extremely rare today.The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that an average of 7 human plague cases has been reported in the US each year in recent decades.

Officials also said that eight human cases have been diagnosed in Oregon since 1995 and no deaths have been reported. Experts said that the bacterial disease is carried by squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents and their fleas.