Plague exposure while traveling is uncommon overall, but the risk depends on where you go and what you do. Avoid rodent activity and sick or dead animals, use an appropriate repellent when flea exposure is plausible, and check current health guidance for your destinations. If symptoms develop after a possible exposure, seek medical care immediately and explain what happened and where you traveled.
How plague exposure happens
Plague is an infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. People most often acquire it through bites from infected fleas. Contact with infected animal tissue or body fluids can also transmit the bacteria. Pneumonic plague may spread through infectious respiratory droplets after close contact with a person or animal who has plague pneumonia. The CDC describes droplet transmission as the only person-to-person route; it reports no person-to-person spread documented in the United States since 1924, while noting rare cases associated with exposure to sick cats.
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In the United States, plague activity is concentrated in rural and semi-rural parts of the West, including upland forests and grasslands. CDC also notes it occurs in certain regions of Africa and Asia. Animal illness or deaths can signal local plague activity, but a general risk summary cannot tell you whether a particular trail, town, or route is affected now.
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Plan around your destination and activities
Before travel, check CDC destination health information and local public-health advisories for your specific destinations and dates. Consider your planned activities—such as camping, hiking, or working outdoors—and ask a clinician about destination-specific risks if you need individual advice. General travel guidance can help with planning, but older recommendations are not current outbreak alerts.
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Reduce contact with rodents, wildlife, and sick animals
- Avoid places with rodent droppings, nesting material, burrows, or other signs of rodent activity. Do not touch rodent urine or feces.
- Do not handle sick or dead rodents or other animals, and do not pet or feed unfamiliar animals. If you see dead rodents, leave the area and check local public-health notices rather than investigating or moving them.
- Avoid close contact with people or animals known to have pneumonic plague.
- If an animal bites or scratches you, wash the wound and seek medical care promptly.
CDC’s travel guidance has advised avoiding rat-infested sites where plague cases have recently been reported, especially where dead rats have been seen. Because that advice appeared in a 1996 publication, use it as general precautionary guidance alongside current local notices—not as evidence of a present outbreak.
Prevent flea bites outdoors
If flea exposure is plausible during an outdoor activity, use a repellent and follow its product label for where, how, and when to apply it. CDC’s plague prevention guidance names DEET for skin and clothing and permethrin for clothing. CDC’s plague-specific precautions describe permethrin for clothing, not skin; do not apply clothing-treatment products to skin.
CDC also lists EPA-registered repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus or PMD, and 2-undecanone for general travel bite prevention. That broader list is general insect-bite guidance, not evidence that every listed ingredient has been specifically evaluated against plague fleas. Wear long sleeves and long pants where appropriate, and follow the label’s instructions for reapplication.
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Take extra precautions if traveling with pets
In an area where plague occurs, CDC recommends flea control for pets, limiting their roaming, and not letting free-roaming dogs or cats sleep on the bed. A pet that becomes ill should receive veterinary care. Dogs and cats can carry infected fleas, so avoiding flea exposure matters for both people and animals.
A plague vaccine is not available in the United States. CDC says vaccines in development are not expected to be commercially available in the immediate future, so a vaccine should not be treated as a routine travel product.
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How common is plague, and where is risk concentrated?
Plague is rare in the United States. CDC reported an average of seven human cases per year in recent decades, with a range of 0–17 per year. Most U.S. cases are acquired in two western regions: northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado; and California, southern Oregon, and far western Nevada. More than 80% of U.S. cases have been bubonic. These figures describe U.S. surveillance, not a traveler’s risk on a particular itinerary.
CDC reports that most human cases since the 1990s have occurred in Africa, and almost all cases reported in the last 20 years were among people living in small towns, villages, or agricultural areas rather than larger cities. Its displayed country-level distribution covers 2013–2018; it is not current outbreak surveillance. CDC’s 1996 travel guidance characterized travelers to plague-endemic areas as generally at low risk, but that historical summary cannot replace current destination advice.
Know symptoms and when to get medical care
After a plausible exposure, seek medical attention immediately if compatible symptoms appear. Tell the clinician about your recent travel and whether you may have had a flea bite, contact with an animal or its tissues, or close respiratory exposure. Plague is treatable, but prompt treatment matters.
- Bubonic plague: Fever, headache, chills, weakness, and one or more swollen, painful lymph nodes. CDC gives a usual incubation period of 2–8 days after an infected flea bite.
- Septicemic plague: Fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, shock, and skin or tissue damage. CDC describes timing as poorly defined but likely within days.
- Pneumonic plague: Fever, headache, weakness, rapidly developing pneumonia, shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and sometimes bloody or watery mucus. Inhalational pneumonic plague can develop after as little as one day.
CDC states: “Plague can be cured with antibiotics, but these must be given promptly to prevent serious illness or death.” The agency’s plague information was updated August 24, 2026.
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