Yersinia Pestis Research Paper

In the 14th century the Black Death engulfed Europe killing an estimated 50 million people. The pandemic is considered extraordinary because it did so in a matter of months. This disease was carried by fleas, the Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, found mainly in rodents, in this case in rats, and the fleas that feed on them.

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

Multiple factors contributed to the spread of this deadly plague, that historians believed originated in Asia and then spread along trade routes to Europe and England. Infected rats carrying fleas that were infected with the Plague took rides on boats and travelled through the routes. While this is how the Plague

The most common symptom of this disease was the occurrence of tumors around the groin, armpits, and neck. When opened, these tumors oozed and bled. The tumors would soon be followed by fever and the vomiting of blood. Victims would usually die between two to seven days after catching the disease. After dying, the armies would collect the bodies and throw them over the walls of the city. Other symptoms of the plague was a lung condition, which caused difficulty breathing, horrible infections to the respiratory system, and coughing up

The black death was a pneumonic plague caused by the yersinia pestis bacteria. “It was the greatest demographic crisis of the medieval period, and in proportion to those killed, the single most calamitous epidemiological event in all of history. In my opinion, the black death has been the greatest challenge to social, political, and economic history.

This has led modern day scientists to believe that Yersinia pestis has evolved and strengthened over time and is strong enough to survive in many different environments and hosts.??-12 Early symptoms included headaches, overall weakness, a white coating on the tongue followed by large swellings in the groin and armpit area that oozed blood and pus. This was followed by other symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, pain, hemorrhaging under the skin, excessive sneezing, and then the nervous system breaks down, death.??-5 The term “God bless you” originated from Pope Gregory VII when someone sneezes as plague victims are constantly sneezing and spreading germs.??-12 From the onset of the plague to death is only about five days. A popular nursery rhyme depicts the course of the

disease, the infected person would notice black painful lumps. These boils would usually appear around the

It is impossible to discuss Europe’s history without mentioning the Plague of 1348, also known as the Black Death. The Black Death reached Italian shores in the spring of 1348. The presence of such a plague was enormously devastating making its mark in unprecedented numbers in recorded history. According to records, it is estimated to have killed a third of Europe’s population. The Black Death was caused by bacteria named Yersinia Pestis. This germ was transferred from rats to fleas and then to humans. This disease spread quickly due to the infestation of rats. Also, sanitary conditions were very poor which did not help the problem at all. When a human was infected, the bacteria moved from the bloodstream

Plague is a very deadly bacterial disease. It has been a recurring force that has wiped out much of the world’s population during it’s outbreaks. The bacteria that is responsible for one of history’s most deadly diseases is Yersinia pestis. Yersinia pestis first infectes a rat. The rat is then the host for a flea. The flea feeds on the blood of the rat which is infected by the bacteria. For a reason still unknown today the bacteria started multiplying in the flea blocking it 's stomach. This caused the flea to throw up the infected rats blood into the human when it feeds on it.

There are many theories on how the plague found its way to Europe. A journalist from National Geographic, Cameron Walker said, “The bacterium that causes bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, lives inside the gut of its main carrier, the flea. The plague likely spread to Europe on the backs of shipboard black rats that carried plague-infested fleas.” Europe’s widespread trade system was the main cause of the plague spreading to England, Italy, France, and other neighboring countries (Richard). This bacterium caused infection not only in rodents, but also in humans and insects. The flea attached itself to a host and infected them with the disease by producing blockages in the stomach, making it that no blood can pass through (Sutyak). The infection is highly contagious. Something as simple as a cough could cause the bacteria to go air borne and kill numerous people in a matter of days. The Black Death started to quickly spread, resulting in countries being blindsided and having the disease kill a vast sum of their population. The case of the bubonic plague was the only disease to affect Western Europe on a worldwide scale (Damen).

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

It primarily infected insects and animals like rats and fleas of which both spend more of their time in filthy areas. The fleas infected with Yersinia Pestis bit the rats and the rats bit the humans. The bacteria gets into the bloodstream of the human and moves towards all the lymph nodes, then quickly migrate to the brain, liver, and spleen, completely destroying the organs inside and out. The disease also spread further pneumatically, the passing of the disease from person to person through coughs and sneezes, so many people tried their best to avoid big crowd of people

A plague is a bacterial infection that can take on more than one form. One of the greatest plagues that have stricken mankind throughout history was the Black Death. The Black Death was the outbreak of the bubonic plague that struck Europe and the Mediterranean area between 1347 and 1351. This plague was the most severe plague that hit the earth because of its origin (the spread), the symptoms, and the effects of the plague.

Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. These bacteria remain in a dormant state primarily in a rat flea’s foregut. Once the flea has bitten a victim it regurgitates the contents in its foregut into the bite location. Once the bacterium has entered into a mammal’s warm body it begins to reproduce and spread throughout the mammal’s body. The reproduction of this bacterium creates large painful swollen lymph nodes which are called buboes. Once these buboes get large enough they begin to ooze infected body fluid so that any contact between an infected person and a healthy person will facilitate the spread of this disease. (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012)

Bacteria called Yersinia pestis caused the Bubonic plague. It was the cause for some of the wicked symptoms that normally showed within one to seven days. Some of the symptoms were general illness such as vomiting, fevers around 101-105 degrees, headaches and the enlargement of the lymph nodes in the areas