The plague is naturally occurring and there are cases of it in the American West.
Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 6 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 95%
The Lawfare PodcastOct 8, 2026
CDC data and multiple independent reports confirm that plague occurs naturally in wild rodents and fleas and that there are scattered human cases in the American West, averaging about five to seven per year. The extraction dropped the qualifier 'always a few' but kept the substance, so the claim is graded normally.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
What was said
… So, look, here's the good news: ah, the last I checked, we have one death of plague in Siberia, 28-year-old woman who was a lab tech. Plague is naturally occurring, and there are always a few cases of it in the American West, among other places. It is not a disease that has been wiped out; it is a disease that has been effectively controlled, and the reason you don't really need to wipe it out is that it's completely treatable with antibiotics. …
The Lawfare Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. CDC plague statistics state that plague occurs in the western United States, with most cases in northern New Mexico and Arizona, and that cases have been scattered in rural areas since plague spread from urban rats to rural rodents.[2][3]
Supports. The Tufts/CDC-based piece says plague persists in nature by infecting wild rodents and their fleas across all states west of the 100th meridian, which supports the 'naturally occurring' element.[4]
Supports. The AP report says the bacteria spread naturally among rodents such as prairie dogs and rats, and that the CDC records about seven human cases per year in the U.S., mostly in the rural American West.[1][5]
Supports. The Hill's report on CDC data shows between zero and 17 human plague cases per year in the U.S. from 2000 to 2023, primarily in the West, with recent cases in New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, and California.[6]
Context. The claim's 'always a few cases' wording is a casual paraphrase; the CDC range of 0 to 17 cases per year means some years have few or no cases, which does not contradict the core assertion.[2][6]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 3 primary, 1 tier 2, 1 tier 1
- 1The plague never went away. Cases are reported in parts ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Plague Maps and Statisticscdc.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 3Maps and Statisticsstacks.cdc.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 4The Plague, Rare but Still Around, Is Both Preventable and ...now.tufts.edu · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5The plague never went away. Cases are reported in parts of Africa and the U.S. nearly every yearpbs.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 6Where plague cases occur in the US, and what causes themthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports, context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The plague is treatable with antibiotics.True
- Pneumonic plague is transmissible human-to-human.True
- Pneumonic plague spreads airborne, person to person.False
- Pneumonic plague is one of three types of plague, including bubonic and septicemic, and it infects the lungs.True
- A plague death occurred in Irkutsk weeks prior to October 17, 2026.Mixed