A teenage girl in Oregon has been diagnosed as having the bubonic plague. The diagnosis was confirmed by the Oregon Health Authority. No one knows how she attracted the deadly disease but Oregon health officials speculated that she may have acquired out in the woods during a recent hunting trip.

The Oregon Health Authority stated that no one else has been found and diagnosed with bubonic plague. Upon returning from a hunting trip, the 16 year old girl began to get violently sick about a week after her return, according to USA Today. She was taken to a hospital in Bend, Oregon and was diagnosed by doctor’s there as having contracted the disease.

Oregon Public Health has there epidemiologists working on her case as well as having contacted the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The Centers for Disease Control are, also, looking into the young girl’s plight. Health officials declare that while the bubonic plague is extremely rare, it still does exist. They claim that the disease still remains in the environment and is especially present in wildlife.

The Centers for Disease Control claims that the bubonic plague is carried by fleas that are attached to rodents and that it is a bacterial disease. The bubonic plague, health officials say, can be treated successfully with antibiotics if they can discover it quickly enough. Oregon has reported eight cases of bubonic plague in the last twenty years. Not one of the eight died from it.

Since 2000, eight people have died from the bubonic plague in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control. In those last fifteen years, there have been 79 reported cases of the plague in the United States. Symptoms will develop within four to seven days of having contracted the disease. The symptoms will include fever, headaches, chills, overall physical weakness and coughing up blood.