This flea, (left) X. cheopis, is responsible for transmitting the
bacteria that causes plague.
August 30th, 2011
05:34 PM ET
Medieval plague bacteria
strain probably extinct
Modern outbreaks – swine flu, bird flu, SARS – have
been scary and deadly, but they don't hold a candle to a
plague called the Black Death. The disease killed an estimated one-third of Europe's population, perhaps 100
million people.
It's been a while, but scientists are now figuring out what caused the Black Death - at least, the one that swept
through Europe from 1347 to 1351. They found evidence of the bacterium Yersinia pestis in the teeth of some
of the medieval victims of the plague. Results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
Researchers screened more than 100 skeletal remains dating from 1348 to 1350 in the East Smithfield mass
burial site, located in London, a place where plague victims were known to be buried.
They found a variation of Yersinia pestis that may no longer exist, as it has never been previously reported,
study authors said. That suggests that this did not result from contamination from modern bacteria.
There had been some debate about whether there was some other explanation for the medieval plague, such as a
different pathogen or bacteria.
The medieval plague is considered the second of three - the first was the Plague of Justinian in 541 A.D., and
the third was noted in the 20th century; that disease represents about 2,000 cases per year, worldwide, on
average.
A different form of Yersinia pestis is considered the cause of the plague that still exists today. As in the days of
knights and castles, modern outbreaks of plague are associated with infected rats and rat fleas, according to the
Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
In the United States, plague cases in humans mostly occur in parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado,
California, Oregon and Nevada. Internationally, it can be found in Africa, Asia and South America. The plague
can still be deadly without proper care, but antibiotics can fight it off.
Given that the World Health Organization has said that plague is a "reemerging infectious disease," further
study of the spread of the older version may be worthwhile.
Source: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/30/medieval-plague-bacteria-strain-probably-extinct/
Post by: Elizabeth Landau - CNN.com Health Writer/Producer
Filed under: CDC • Germs • Infectious diseases
Wednesday, Aug 31 2011
By Stephen Hull
Black Death bug which
killed 100 million in 14th
century plague still
exists in modern day
Britain
DNA taken from the skeletons of plague victims in
medieval London has unearthed a shocking revelation – the Black Death is still present today.
Bodies of victims, who were buried in a mass ‘plague graves’ in the capital, show that part of the same
sequence of genes still exists, hundreds of years later.
The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europe's population in just five years from 1348 to 1353.
THE KILLER PLAGUE
Filthy living conditions in 14th Britain have been blamed for allowing the Black Death to spread.
It remains one of the most destructive pandemics in history which peaked in Europe between 1348 and 1350.
Experts say it reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million to almost 350 million in 1400.
In 1603 the killer plague returned and killed 38,000 Londoners.
Scientists have now confirmed that Yersinia pestis which is known to cause cases of the plague today was
also responsible for the brutally damaging bubonic plague which almost wiped out Europe.
Previously, tests which showed presence of the bacteria in medieval samples had been ignored because it
was assumed they were contaminated and because the modern day bug spreads much more slowly and is far
less deadly.
Now researchers at the University of Tübingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in
Canada it was responsible for deaths.
The results of the research have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DNA was taken from 109 skeletons for the study and by comparing the samples to those of 10 others
excavated from an even older, none Black Death related site, so researchers could prove contamination was
not a factor.
Report author Johannes Krause says that ‘without a doubt’ the plague pathogen known as Versinia pestis was
also the cause of the Middle Ages’ plague. The symptoms of the Black Death were revolting with historians
noting descriptions of fever, muscle spasms, coughing up blood and black blood oozing out of swelling lymph
nodes.
Earlier this month, rats - which were long thought to be the carriers of the plague - were ruled out as the main
cause. The most commonly noted symptom was the appearance of swollen lymph nodes on the groin, the
neck and armpits, which often wept with pus and blood when they burst.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2031776/Black-Death-bug-killed-100million-14th-century-plague-exists-modernday-Britain.html#
Relationships and Connections:
Firefighters attacked by
thousands of fleas at
abandoned house are tested
for bubonic plague
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:33 PM on 19th August 2011
Fleapit: The house where the firefighters were attacked
A team of firemen, who were left coated in thousands of fleas when they went to an abandoned house, had to
be tested for plague.
The crew from Connecticut was conducting a routine safety check at an abandoned building in the town of
Westbury when they were besieged by the insects.
They returned to their truck itching like mad to discover they were absolutely covered in fleas.
The team rushed themselves to hospital and had to be cleaned off completely before going inside in case they
brought the insects in with them.
They were examined by doctors and found to be absolutely covered in bites before being scrubbed down and
tested for a number of potential illnesses including bubonic plague.
Fire Chief David Martin said all of the team had been given the all clear and they are back at work.
Hazard: The firefighters had to be tested for bubonic plague after
being attacked by thousands of fleas
He told Waterbury Republican-American: 'One of the
guys described it as they had thousands of them,
crawling on them.
'I've been doing this for 23 years, and I've never heard of
anything like it. It's not your typical work hazard, that's for
sure.'
The truck had to be taken out of service so it could be
fumigated, and the firemen's clothing was washed at ultra-high temperatures to kill off any remaining fleas.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027836/Connecticut-firemen-attacked-insects-tested-bubonicplague.html