CDC to doctors: Keep an eye out for plague

Doctors should think about the possibility of plague when they see patients with flu-like symptoms this summer and should ask if they've been camping, hiking or around dead rodents, federal health officials said Tuesday. Eleven cases of plague have been recorded in the U.S. this year, and three people have died. "It is unclear why the number of cases in 2015 is higher than usual," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a brief update. The CDC has recorded 91 cases of plague since 2000, an average of between 5 and 6 a year. The highest number this century was 17 cases in 2006. Now, 2015 is the year with the second-highest number of cases.