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It sounds like something old. “Bubonic plague.”

You hear those two words and you think: “Half of Europe died in the Middle Ages. It was called the聽.”

You aren’t wrong.聽But it didn’t stop there, as many mistakenly believe and as聽聽out of聽聽remind us聽this week.

罢丑别听, a deadly infectious disease caused by bacteria, is still very much alive and well, with experts warning of a possible聽.

The concern in Madagascar is in the prisons, since the disease is primarly carried by rats and passed to humans through fleas. Prisons in Madagascar are overrun with rats, and October brings the humid weather associated with a rise in flea activity.

“If the plague gets into prisons there could be a sort of atomic explosion of plague within the town,”聽Christophe Rogier from the Pasteur Institute told the聽.

The World Health Organization reports around 2,000 cases of the plague each year, more than 90 percent of which聽are in Africa, especially Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Here is a map from the Centers of Disease Control that looks at the global picture of reported plague cases:

(Centers for Disease Control)

Recent cases of the plague have occurred in Africa, Asia, South America and North America.

聽in 2010, with 12 people infected.聽In 2012, there were 256 plague cases聽in Madagascar, which聽resulted in 60 deaths — the highest number in the world,聽according to the聽.

In August of this year,聽聽saw its first case in 30 years when a 15-year-old boy died of the plague.

And the United States is not immune. Cases of the plague were reported in humans in聽听补苍诲听, as well as in聽. A plague-infested squirrel closed down a park in聽聽this July.

Here’s a look at cases of the plague in humans countrywide over the last 40 years, again courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control:

(Centers for Disease Control)

Bubonic plague, as opposed to other forms of the plague, infects the lymph nodes. It has flu-like symptoms and is treatable with antibiotics if identified early. If left untreated the mortality rate can be as high as 60 percent.