Officials say disease, which killed millions in medieval Europe, was identified and treated early, ‘posing little risk to the community’

A pet owner in Oregon has caught the bubonic plague from their cat in a rare example of the potentially deadly illness surfacing in the United States, local authorities have said.

The plague was responsible for the Black Death in medieval Europe and elsewhere which killed millions of people and devastated the continent. In modern times it has become much rarer.

Local officials said the unnamed person in rural Deschutes county, Oregon, had probably caught the plague from their pet, which was displaying symptoms of the disease.