California health officials have confirmed that a Lake Tahoe resident has tested positive for plague — a rare but serious bacterial infection most people associate with history books. The individual is recovering at home,

About seven people get infected by the bacterium responsible for plague, Yersinia pestis, each year, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most U.S. cases occur in western states including Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada; in July, an Arizona man died from plague.