The same disease that wiped out a third of Europe in the 14th century — plague — has sickened at least two people this month in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of northern China. Globally, there are between 1,000 and 2,000 reported cases of plague each year, according to the World Health Organization, and many of them occur in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and Peru. But the case that’s being handled out of Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital is particularly concerning because it relates to a middle-aged married couple afflicted with a virulent version of the infection called pneumonic plague, according to the New York Times. While plague was once referred to as “the black death” and certainly has its share of creepy symptoms, many of those infected with the most common, modern bubonic plague variety survive with proper, prompt treatment. The Chinese government has assured the public that it has properly quarantined the individuals and that risk for transmission appears ...