There were small outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever.
For example, small outbreaks were reported among gay men in Los Angeles and Seattle.
Now, though, Brazil is seeing small outbreaks of diseases like measles.
Small outbreaks of bird flu caused by other subtypes of the virus have also occurred.
During that lull, polio spread to many new countries, although most have snuffed out the small outbreaks that resulted.
Most ruined buildings have not been rebuilt, many people remain unemployed and small outbreaks of violence are common.
The pandemic failed to reach the Americas and caused only small outbreaks in some ports of western Europe.
Small outbreaks in France, Italy and, most recently Florida, have been contained by well-planned and well-resourced public health responses.
"The idea is small outbreaks can be tolerated, but large ones cannot," said Dan Haydon, a statistical ecologist at Glasgow University.
The spores of the fungus, called late blight, are often present in the soil, and small outbreaks are not uncommon in August and September.
spokeswoman, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, said that China regularly reported small, outbreaks of bubonic plague but that having it evolve into pneumonic plague was "unexpected".
