Common pneumonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, is fairly easily controlled because it is very lethal (no time to spread), not very contagious, and we have antibiotics for it.

Common pneumonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis, is fairly easily controlled because it is very lethal (no time to spread), not very contagious, and we have antibiotics for it.

There was a pneumonic plague outbreak in Madagascar in 2017, which was brought under control with only 2-3 thousand deaths.

But if the strain is resistant to antibiotics or engineered to be more contagious, it could become another global pandemic 20 times more severe than COVID-19.