A 77-year-old resident of Bernalillo County has tested positive for plague, marking the second human case of the disease in 2025.

The man was hospitalized but has since been discharged, the New Mexico Department of Health announced Wednesday.

The bacterium that causes plague circulates among wild rodents like rats, mice, prairie dogs, ground squirrels and sometimes rabbits. Typically, plague is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected fleas or by direct contact with infected animals, including rodents, wildlife and pets.

While the disease might seem scary — this is the plague, caused by the same bacterium that killed a large percentage of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages — plague occurs regularly in New Mexico and elsewhere in the Western U.S., Dr. Erin Phipps, state pu

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