Blast from the past

This story caught my eye - a case of Bubonic Plague in LA:

A woman is in stable condition with bubonic plague, the first confirmed human case in Los Angeles County since 1984, health officials said Tuesday.

The woman, who was not identified, was admitted to a hospital April 13 with a fever, swollen lymph nodes and other symptoms. A blood test confirmed the bacterial disease, and she was given antibiotics, officials said.

It caught my eye for two reasons - last night's episode of "House" dealt with a plague case, and I've just started reading "The Black Death" by Philip Ziegler. I seem to be in a disease pattern; I just finished "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History". That was a disturbing book, what with all the Avian flu stories floating around the media.

The plague book seems interesting - I read "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis awhile ago - it's a time travel book about researchers going back to learn about the past - one of them accidentally ends up in the middle of the plague hitting the UK. It was fascinating, but very, very sad. I'll have to see how the actual history tomes on the subject look.