Yersinia Pestis

End of a Paradigm, Samuel K. Cohn Jr. argues that the Black Death of 14th century Europe was not the same illness as the bubonic plague. To help illustrate his argument, Cohn compared the Black Death of 14th century Europe to the agent of the bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, which was discovered in Hong Kong

The roots of this fearsome plague are very chilling to think about knowing that a mere flea can be the cause of the bubonic plagues epidemic. The more specific medical or scientific term for this disease is Yersinia Pestis. This was named after the doctor, Alexandre Yersin, who isolated the bacteria in 1894 during the pandemic that began in China in the 1860’s. The earliest traces of Y Pestis can be found all the way back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in the 1320’s. The cause of the sudden eruption is yet to be solved but the earliest major toll it has taken in our history books is in China in the 1330’s during the expansion of trade in the middle and high

3. Is it true that the black plague bacterium Yersinia Pestis even after so many years is still thriving in some animal carriers today like wild dogs, rodents, etc.?

The Great Plague of 1665 in London killed eight thousand people a week at its peak. Surgeons lanced buboes in an ineffective attempt to rid the body of bad humors (The Great Plague). Yersinia pestis lives in fleas on many types of rodent species. The rodents serve as long-term reservoirs for the bacteria without the rodents experiencing excessive die-off. Dogs and cats can host fleas infected with Yerisina pestis (Ecology). This makes the plague a zoonotic disease. The way the bacterium was transmitted in London was by the bites of infected fleas. Other animals can become infected by fleas that traveled from another host. Epizootic infections are then transferred to humans according to the Center for Disease Control. In 1666 London had a fire and the city was cleaned and better sewer systems were built. These improvements reduced the number of rats and ended the

The causes of the Black Death – the flea, the rat, and the bacillus Yersinia pestis– have been labeled the “unholy trinity” (Boeckl). The flea is able to live in environmental conditions of about 74° Fahrenheit and 60% humidity (Ibid). Before the Black Death reached Europe, they were experiencing those same types of weather conditions. The rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis and the human flea, Pulex irritans, are both capable of transmitting plague (Boeckl). Sometimes, an infected flea cannot ingest blood because Yersinia pestis obstructs its digestive tract. The blockage causes a flea to regurgitate into a bitten host rather than ingest the host’s blood, thereby infecting the host with plague (Boeckl). Unable to eat, the famished flea will bite with more frequency, accelerating the spread of plague. A flea can be carrying Yersinia pestis without it blocking the flea’s digestive tract, in which case the flea does not transmit plague when it bites a host. Also, Yersinia pestis can only enter a victim through a bite, as the bacilli cannot pass through intact skin (Gottfried).

The black death was a catastrophic time in our history (1347-1352) When it came to health care the way the people handled it back then was not superior. If a disease like the black death happened again today we would be more prepared for it because of the technology we have today (2017).

The Middle Ages were a very dark time, education became very unimportant and people were forced to live in very close quarters and, consequently, hygiene was atrocious and it made the perfect place for Yersinia Pestis to thrive. Yersinia Pestis is the virus responsible for the Black Death, a deadly disease that rapidly powered through Europe, killing nearly everyone in its way. The Black Death had many gruesome and scary symptoms that made bystanders sick just watching. Some people were more likely to get the Black Death than others. Because peasants had worse living conditions than the nobility, they were far more likely to catch the Plague. The history of the Plague and its track is very surprising to most people and when you see just how

The Bubonic Plague was likely the first semi-global pandemic that rightfully merits the name which means affecting all people. The period of time in which the disease wreaked havoc was also known as the “Black Death." Alexandere Yersin was a French bacteriologist and discovered the bacteria in Hong Kong This diabolical disease is characterized by both positive and negative outcomes for the few people that managed to survive the plague. The total number of people who died subsequently of the disease are not known. The total number of deaths ranged from twenty to fifty million people. Many, grotesque, unpleasant characteristics are associated with the Black plague. Scientists now understand that the Black Death was spread by a bacillus known as Yersina Pestis. The dominant carrier of the disease was the "black" rat. Other rodents located in central Asia could have also contributed to the disease spreading. A French biologist discovered the germ during the nineteenth century. Recently Dr. Jahannes Krause has been able to do some "molecular fishing" and extract the remaining plague fragments, and DNA from the tooth enamel of excavated remains from the 1300 's. There are three types of the infection. The manifest through buboes (boils) with unpleasant smelling odors, and spots on the skin. Swollen, inflamed lymph nodes in the armpits and groin would appear. The lymphatic system is a major contributing factor to one 's immune system and general health condition.

The Bubonic Plague of 2014 has happened and people are wondering if they can it get and wonder why is this happening. There were 15 cases reported to Centers Of Disease Control and four cases were fatal. On the average seven cases are reported each year. Health Care providers are noticing the plague in patients with these symptoms. The Plague usually occurs in semi rural areas and rural areas. The 2014 cases were reported in eight states.Now scientist are coming up with many different medications that we can use to treat like antibiotics. When the Black Plague happened they haven't came up with medications to treat anyone yet and so many people died. Just like the Black Plague everything was caused by a flea. The plague occurs in the late spring

The Bubonic Plague or ‘Black Death’ is a highly infectious and potentially fatal disease that spread rapidly throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. The disease carrying Bacterium, Yersinia pestis, caused millions of deaths in the 1300s due to its highly contagious nature. Many people contracted the Bubonic Plague from bacteria carrying fleas, which carried the plague bacteria from an infected rodent (A.D.A.M, 2015). This particular disease isn’t usually spread from person to person, but instead through small rodents and animals that carry infected fleas, many people became infected from flea bites or direct contact with the infected skin or fluids of an animal, (Rare Diseases, 2014) However, according to some credible scientists, it is believed

other questions about the way Y. pestis spreads and problems that could have caused it from

The bacteria found in the Black Plague is known as Yersinia pestis that is a bipolar and plump, lightly-staining, coccobacillus. Remaining a dangerous threat even today as well as what was previously stated that it is a plausible agent for bioterrorism. And as stated, areas such as America, Asia, and Africa are foci endemic areas. Where wild rodents, such as squirrels and rats, are the sustenance pushing for the spread and infection of the disease. The transmission being from animal-to-animal through fleas and infection to humans through contact or bites. Instances of human-to-human infection are uncommon except for the pneumonic plague, the disease caused by plague bacillus also known as Y pestis. The germ was named after Alexander Yersin who had discovered it in 1894 during a pandemic in China that started in1860. Causing numerous casualties by how fast and effective the disease was spreading, it had seemed that there was no end in

Plague is an infectious disease that affects rodents, other animals and humans caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of the Plague. It is a virulent pathogen causes painful, severe illness as well as death. “Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative, bipolar-staining coccobacillus member of the Enterobacteriaceae family, and is an obligate intracellular pathogen that must be contained

plague in and of itself is a bacterium called yersinia pestis and is carried by rodents (Scogna).

Many individuals may be well-aware of the infectious disease that wiped-out approximately half of the European population during the Middle Ages, the Bubonic Plague. However, based on Carl Zimmer’s article “In Ancient DNA, Evidence of Plague Much Earlier than Previously Known”, studies have indicated that the bacterium responsible for the plague has been menacing human populations longer than we have presumed so. According to the studies Zimmer discusses within his article, the infectious strains of bacteria responsible for the Black Death, Yersinia pestis, was able to be traced back to the genomes extracted from the teeth of ancient human remains dating back thousands of years prior to the Medieval Period or Black Death. This certainly proves