Rats. Fleas. And one bacterium that just would not take the hint.

This week, Jamie and Leo trace the long and deadly history of the plague, from the ancient world to outbreaks in the modern United States.

We start with the different forms of plague, bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic (all caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis). From there, we follow the disease across centuries, beginning with the Plague of Justinian, moving through the Black Death, and ending with lesser-known outbreaks in Hawaii in 1899, San Francisco from 1900 to 1907, and Los Angeles in 1924.

Along the way, we look at how the plague spread, why it was so deadly, and how communities responded when fear traveled faster than the disease itself.

How many forms of plague are there? What caused the Black Death? And how did outbreaks continue well  ...