Health officials in Oregon have confirmed that a teenage girl has come down with bubonic plague after apparently contracting the disease from a flea bite.

It is thought the 16-year-old girl was infected during a hunting trip on Oct. 16 near Heppner, a city located at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the northeast region of the state. She got sick five days later and is now hospitalized in intensive care, the officials said.

They also said there have been no other reported cases in the area, the officials said.

Although bubonic plague remains a rare disease, but too often it is thought of as no longer a threat. However, it remains very much present in the environment, particularly in wildlife, and people need to take precautions to safeguard themselves and their pets, officials from the Centers for Disease Control say.

CDC officials are puzzled by a recent uptick in cases. In recent decades, an average of seven human plague cases have been reported each year, but since April 1, at least 11 cases of plague have been reported with three deaths. The affected states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, and Oregon, the CDC said in August.

If detected early, the disease is treatable with antibiotics. Plague symptoms typically develop one to four days after exposure, and include fever, chills, headache, weakness and a bloody, or watery cough.