Officials in central Oregon this week reported a case of bubonic plague in a resident who likely got the disease from a sick pet cat.

The infected resident, the cat, and the resident’s close contacts have all been provided medication, public health officials say, and people in the community are not believed to be at risk.Plague isn’t common, but it also isn’t unheard of in the western United States, where a handful of cases occur every year. It’s different from Alaskapox, a rare, recently discovered disease that killed a man in Fairbanks, Alaska, last month.

Here are a few things to know about what the plague is, who is at risk and how a disease that was once a harbinger of death became a treatable illness.

What is plague?

Plague is an infectious disease that can affect mammals. It’s caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by rodents and fleas. Sunlight and drying can kill plague bacteria on surfaces, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Humans and pets suspected to be sick with plague are typically treated with antibiotics, and sometimes with other medical measures.

Plague symptoms can manifest in a few ways. Bubonic plague — the kind contracted by the Oregon resident — happens when the plague bacteria gets into the lymph nodes. It can cause fever, headache, weakness and painful, swollen lymph nodes. It usually happens from the bite of an infected flea, according to the CDC.

Septicemic plague symptoms happen if the bacteria gets into the bloodstream. It can occur initially or after bubonic plague goes untreated. This form of plague causes the same fever, chills and weakness, as well as abdominal pain, shock and sometimes other symptoms like bleeding into the skin and blackened fingers, toes or the nose. The CDC says this form comes from flea bites or from handling an infected animal.

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form of the disease, and it occurs when the bacteria gets into the lungs. Pneumonic plague adds rapidly developing pneumonia to the list of plague symptoms. It is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person by inhaling infectious droplets.

All forms of plague are treatable with common antibiotics, and people who seek treatment early have a better chance of a full recovery, according to the CDC.

Am I at risk of plague?

In the U.S., an average of seven cases of human plague is reported each year, according to the CDC, and about 80% of them are the bubonic form of the disease. Most of those cases were in the rural western and southwestern U.S.

A welder in central Oregon contracted it in 2012 when he pulled a rodent out of his choking cat’s mouth in 2012 — he survived but lost his fingertips and toes to the disease. A Colorado teen contracted a fatal case while hunting in 2015, and Colorado officials confirmed at least two cases last year — one of them fatal.

Worldwide, most human cases of plague in recent decades have occurred in people living in rural towns and villages in Africa, particularly in Madagascar and Congo, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

People can reduce the risk of plague by keeping their homes and outdoor living areas less inviting for rodents by clearing brush and junk piles and keeping pet food inaccessible. Ground squirrels, chipmunks and wood rats can carry plague as well as other rodents, and so people with bird and squirrel feeders may want to consider the risks if they live in areas with a plague outbreak.

The CDC says repellent with DEET can also help protect people from rodent fleas when camping or working outdoors.

Flea control products can help keep fleas from infecting household pets. If a pet gets sick, they should be taken to a vet as soon as possible, according to the CDC.

Isn’t plague from the Middle Ages?

The Black Death in the 14th century was perhaps the most infamous plague epidemic, killing up to half of the population as it spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. It began devastating communities in the Middle East and Europe between 1347 and 1351, and significant outbreaks continued for roughly the next 400 years.

An earlier major plague pandemic, dubbed the Justinian plague, started in Rome around 541 and continued to erupt for the next couple hundred years.

The third major plague pandemic started in the Yunnan region of China in the mid-1800s and spread along trade routes, arriving in Hong Kong and Bombay about 40 years later. It eventually reached every continent except Antarctica, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and is estimated to have killed roughly 12 million people in China and India alone.

In the late 1800s, an effective treatment with an antiserum was developed. That treatment was later replaced by even more effective antibiotics a few decades later.

Though plague remains a serious illness, antibiotic and supportive therapy is effective for even the most dangerous pneumonic form when patients are treated in time, according to the World Health Organization.

NEW YORK (AP) — Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including “The Wire,” “Fringe” and the “John Wick” franchise, has died. He was 60.

Reddick died “suddenly” Friday morning, his publicist Mia Hansen said in a statement, attributing his death to natural causes. His death was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.com.

Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall taciturn and elegant men of distinction. He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series “The Wire,” where his character was agonizingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.

“I’m an artist at heart. I feel that I’m very good at what I do. When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a Black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.

Reddick also starred on the Fox series “Fringe” as a special agent Phillip Broyles, the smartly dressed Matthew Abaddon on “Lost” and played the multi-skilled Continental Hotel concierge Charon in the “John Wick” movies, including the fourth in the series opening this month

He earned a SAG Award nomination in 2021 as part of the ensemble for Regina King’s film “One Night in Miami.” Reddick played recurring roles on “Intelligence” and “American Horror Story” and was on the show “Bosch” for its seven-year run.

His upcoming projects include 20th Century’s remake of “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Shirley,” Netflix’s biopic of former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. He was also slated to appear in the “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina,” as well as “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.”

The Baltimore-born-and-raised Reddick was a Yale University drama school graduate who enjoyed some success after school by landing guest or recurring roles “CSI: Miami” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” He also appeared in several movies, including “I Dreamed of Africa,” “The Siege” and “Great Expectations.”

It was on season four of “Oz,” playing a doomed undercover officer sent to prison who becomes an addict, that Reddick had a career breakthrough.

“I was never interested in television. I always saw it as a means to an end. Like so many actors, I was only interested in doing theater and film. But ‘Oz’ changed television. It was the beginning of HBO’s reign on quality, edgy, artistic stuff. Stuff that harkens back to great cinema of the ’60s and ’70s,” he told The Associated Press in 2011.

“When the opportunity for ‘Oz’ came up, I jumped. And when I read the pilot for ‘The Wire,’ as a guy that never wanted to be on television, I realized I had to be on this show.”

Reddick attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music, where he studied classical composition, and he played piano. His first album, the jazzy “Contemplations and Remembrances,” came out in 2011.

Reddick had a recurring role as Jeffrey Tetazoo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, on CBS’ “Intelligence.” On “American Horror Story: Coven,” Reddick portrayed Papa Legba, the go-between between humanity and the spirit world.

Reddick is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick, and children, Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick.

LOS ANGELES — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted of murdering his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the defendant in a real-life murder story more bizarre than any in which he acted.

In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: “It hurt because America is the only family I had.”

He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley’s family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy.

It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the “Our Gang” comedies and acted in a movie classic, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”

His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, “Baretta.” He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time,” was often quoted.

Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood’s finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with.

In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, “Judgment Day: the John List Story,” portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

His personal saga was as dramatic as any of the characters he portrayed and later he admitted to having his own struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, “The Three Little Hillbillies.”

When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the “Our Gang” comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.

He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in “Humoresque” in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with “In Cold Blood.” Later there were films including, “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” and “Electra Glide in Blue.”

In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.

His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.

“Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out,” he said in the AP interview. “I’d been alone for a long time.”

He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: “She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for.”

When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.

Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.

“Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me,” he said. “I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together.”

Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.

On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello’s. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.

Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor’s Guild pension.

In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.

“I’d like to give my best performance,” he said. “I’d like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I’m not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I’d like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic.”

Deutsch, the primary writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2014.

NEW YORK — The Super Bowl is advertising’s biggest, glitziest stage.

Big name advertisers from Netflix to Google are paying as much as $7 million for a 30-second spot during the big game on Sunday, seeking to capture the attention of the roughly 100 million viewers who tune in each year.

To get the most out of those millions, most advertisers release their ads in the days ahead of the big game to maximize publicity for their spots. In the ads released so far, John Travolta and “Scrubs” stars Donald Faison and Zach Braff sing a T-Mobile themed version of “Summer Nights” from “Grease,” Adam Driver creates multiple versions of himself for Squarespace, and Alicia Silverstone reprises her “Clueless” character for online shopping site Rakuten.

Anna Faris stars as Eve, who eats an avocado in the garden of Eden. Flash forward to the present day, when no one is ashamed of nudity and everyone is naked, including the Statue of Liberty.

Actress Melissa McCarthy stars in a musical number for the travel site about her desire to go on a trip “somewhere, anywhere.”

Actor Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and his wife Keleigh Sperry Teller dance to customer service hold music while drinking a Bud Light.

In a regional ad, a diverse group of people share a six-pack of Budweiser — a voiceover by Kevin Bacon showcases the “six degrees of Bud.” Although he’s not shown, the ad is a nod to the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” meme — the idea that anyone in the entertainment business can be linked to Kevin Bacon in six connections.

A mountain man talk talks about surviving the outdoors in an ad that stars singer Sarah McLachlan spoofing her well-known and oft mocked animal-advocacy ad that uses her song “Angel.”

Singer Nick Jonas returns for the second year in an ad that highlight’s Dexcom’s glucose monitoring system.

Celebrity chef Matty Matheson, Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon The Chef and Nickelodeon’s stop-motion-animated Tiny Chef help a DoorDash shopper find the best products.

Music stars Jack Harlow, Missy Elliott and Elton John team up in an ad for Doritos Sweet & Tangy BBQ that shows Harlow abandoning his rap career to focus on the triangle — a Doritos-shaped musical instrument.

Super Bowl regular Procter & Gamble promotes its Downy Unstopables brand in an ad showing actor Danny McBride — who wants to go by “Downy McBride.”

The online betting site shows stars including skateboard mogul Tony Hawk and singer Ludacris discussing DraftKings free bet offer at a party at actor Kevin Hart’s house.

The E(asterisk)Trade babies are back. This time they’re at a wedding to demonstrate E(asterisk)Trade makes you ready for anything, including marriage, kids and college.

The subscription dog food service goes for the heartstrings with an ad showing a woman going through life’s milestones with her dog.

Actor and comedian Will Ferrell drives different GM electric vehicles through different Netflix shows, including “Bridgerton” and “Stranger Things,” to announce that Netflix will feature electric vehicles in its original shows.

Google promotes its Pixel photo editing tools “Magic Eraser” and “Photo Unblur” with a 90 second spot featuring Amy Schumer, Doja Cat and NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The mayo brand shows actors Jon Hamm and Brie Larson in a fridge with a jar of Hellmann’s mayo — to drive home the point that Hellmann’s would go well with a “ham and brie” sandwich.

Kia’s ad for its 2023 Telluride X-Pro SUV shows a dad making an epic trek to recover a child’s left behind “binky.”

Michelob Ultra’s two ads are set at Bushwood Country Club, the fictional country club in “Caddyshack,” and star a bevy of stars and athletes: tennis great Serena Williams, actor Brian Cox, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, soccer player Alex Morgan and boxer Canelo Alvarez.

Sylvester Stallone and his daughters Sophia, Scarlet and Sistine set up camp on Paramount Mountain.

In an unusual move, Peacock’s ad for its “Poker Face” show starring Natasha Lyonne makes a nod to other commercials in the broadcast including ads for M&Ms and Google Pixel.

Pepsi is running two ads starring Ben Stiller and Steve Martin that ask “Great acting or great taste?” and ask viewers to taste Pepsi Zero Sugar for themselves.

Jeff Ross, Natasha Leggero and other comedians hold a “roast” for the Planters spokescharacter Mr. Peanut.

The Frito-Lay brand recreates “Breaking Bad” with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul — but this time the duo are cooking up the PopCorners snack in their RV instead of anything illicit.

Anyone can get their hand stuck in a Pringles can, according to Pringles’ latest Super Bowl ad effort, including singer Meghan Trainor.

The online shopping site tapped “Clueless” stars Alicia Silverstone and Elisa Donovan to recreate a scene from the 1995 hit and convey that Rakuten gives shoppers cash back on purchases. Designer Christian Siriano also appears as a student.

Snoop Dogg wears different Skechers throughout the day with cameos from Martha Stewart and others.

Adam Driver contemplates the fact that “Squarespace is a website that makes websites” and splits into multiple versions of himself.

To promote its 5G home internet, John Travolta sings a version of “Summer Nights” with “Scrubs” stars Donald Faison and Zach Braff touting its benefits.

A man dances in front of a fountain to showcase the free time people will have if they let TurboTax professionals do their taxes for them.

Uber’s ad for its membership program Uber One shows hip hop mogul P. Diddy working to create a hit song for Uber One. The ad features singers of famous hits, including Montell Jordan (“This is How We Do It”), Kelis (“Milkshake”), Donna Lewis (“I Love You Always Forever”), Haddaway (“What is Love”) and Ylvis (“What Does the Fox Say”).

The auto accessories maker showcases the fact that its factories and workers are American.

In the first Super Bowl ad from the enterprise software company, actual rock stars Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Joan Jett and others complain that office workers shouldn’t call each other “rock stars.”