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Avoiding the Black Plague Today

Though it calls to mind medieval massacre, the deadly infectious disease known simply as plague is still around. New research on how the disease spreads helps us better understand the pandemic that killed up to 100 million people, and how to continue to keep it in check. Even in areas of the world that still experience outbreaks, mortality rates from plague are estimated to be eight to 10 percent. The disease that caused the most lethal epidemics recorded in history and killed 60 percent of the people in medieval London and Florence is no longer on the most feared-killers list.

"O happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will look upon our testimony as a fable"…

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 So you think you know all about the plague?

When the Black Death spread through Europe and the United Kingdom back in the 1300s, the disease changed more than society: It also likely altered the evolution of people's genome. A study, published in 2022, found that people who survived the plague in London and Denmark had mutations in their genomes that helped protect them against the plague pathogen, Yersinia pestis.

 The death of a Russian plague researcher, explained by a microbiologist

Conflicting information about the death of a lab worker at a Russian plague research institute has fuelled fears about the possibility of pneumonic plague spreading. Nearly 200 people are in quarantine in Siberia after 28-year-old Darya Shipilova fell ill at work and later died on October 2. The exact circumstances of her death are unknown. A senior Russian official posted on social media last week that Shipilova “had died from the plague” – before editing the post to add “possibly”. Russia’s health watchdog has since stated she died from “pneumonia of unknown etiology”.

Articles of Interest

A Plague Mystery in Siberia

The death of a Russian lab worker has spawned rumors. Here are the facts.

Plague in Siberia

If the word plague gets your attention, it should. Responsible for wiping out a lot of the earth’s population, we are still terrified to hear about it. We now know that bacteria was responsible for the plague, and it has a name. Yersinia pestis. Today plague is uncommon, recognizable, and treatable with antibiotics.

Are We at Risk of Plague? An Expert Tackles Lingering Questions in the Wake of Russian Lab Worker Death (Exclusive)

But while it’s easy to think of the plague as some medieval illness that’s recently been unleashed, the truth is “it never left,” Dr. Sohaib Imtiaz, Chief Medical Officer of PEOPLE Inc. says. “It lives in rodents on several continents and turns up in the United States most years.”

Explainer: understanding plague in the 21st century

In medieval times, plague was known as the “black death” and resulted in millions of Europeans dying. Plague still persists in many areas, with the highest annual burden of disease in Africa. The advent of antibiotics means that milder versions of plague can be treated. But according to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague is still one of the most deadly infectious diseases. If someone contracts it, they can be dead within 24 hours.

Five things you might not know about the plague (not including the fact that it still exists)

The plague—yes, that plague—is alive and well in the modern world. If this comes as a shock, you probably don't live in one of the few areas that still harbors the bacteria that causes it. There are only a handful of countries left with it, including the U.S., but there are still widespread outbreaks in some of those areas—we're talking upwards of a thousand people in some cases.

Inside A Modern-Day Plague Outbreak

Controlling the epidemic in Madagascar means addressing the stigma around the disease.

Plague blame game: Gerbils replace rats as prime suspects

For a long time, rats have taken the heat for the waves of plague that killed millions of people across Europe starting in the 14th century. But now suspicion is falling on another rodent with a much cuddlier reputation: the gerbil.

Plague Tales: Yersinia Pestis

Yersinia pestis, is a facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative, coccobacillus. It is the causative agent of the Plague and responsible for some of the most deadly pandemics in history. While Yersinia pestis is no longer a cause of mass mortality, outbreaks do still occur.

Plague was one of history’s deadliest diseases—then we found a cure

Plague is a bacterial infection found mainly in rodents and their fleas. But via those fleas it can sometimes leap to humans. When it does, the outcome can be horrific, making plague outbreaks the most notorious disease episodes in history. Most infamous of all was the Black Death, a medieval pandemic that swept through Asia and Europe.

Reliving Nightmare of Plague, 10 Years On

Bubonic plague is transmitted by fleas that feed off pack rats, ground squirrels and prairie dogs in the mountains of New Mexico and several other states. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease probably came to the United States around 1900, in Asian rats that escaped from ships in the port of San Francisco.

The Plague Isn’t Back—It Actually Never Left

The key to surviving a plague infection is quick diagnosis and proper treatment, the CDC says. Today, plague is easily treatable with antibiotics, so even if one is bitten by an infected flea, plague isn’t the death sentence it was during the Black Death era.

Why plague doctors wore those strange beaked masks

In the 17th century, people believed these outfits could purify poisonous air. They were wrong.

Why the United States Is Plagued With Plague

The bacterium that causes plague—Yersinia pestis—might have never gained a foothold in the United States. The bacterium could have been eradicated at its source, but years of governmental delay, bureaucratic snafus, false optimism, and misguided frugality led to our current state: Y. pestis can be found in rodent populations throughout the Western half of the country.

A Pathogen That Still Plagues Mankind \

Although most people are aware that plague is transmitted by the bites of infected fleas (who obtain the plague bacteria from rodents), it can also on rare occasions be transmitted from human-to-human (via droplet or saliva), and and can be contracted from contact with an infected animal, such as a mouse or squirrel

Ancient Teeth Unlock Plague Secrets

The findings suggest the pathogen’s ancestor is almost 1,000 years older than previously thought.

Black Plague: Discovering Antibodies

Plagues are caused by bacteria found in small mammals and their fleas. It can be transmitted in a handful of ways including a flea bite, handling infected animals or the transmission of respiratory droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected human. The plague can take the shape of two clinical forms, bubonic and pneumonic, both of which can cause major health complications and pose life-threatening risks.

Did bubonic plague really cause the Black Death?

Everyone thinks the Black Death was caused by bubonic plague. But they could be wrong – and we need to find the real culprit before it strikes again.

Explainer: understanding plague in the 21st century

In medieval times, plague was known as the “black death” and resulted in millions of Europeans dying. Plague still persists in many areas, with the highest annual burden of disease in Africa. The advent of antibiotics means that milder versions of plague can be treated. But according to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague is still one of the most deadly infectious diseases.

Five things you might not know about the plague (not including the fact that it still exists)

Because yes, you can still catch the Black Death.

Madagascar Wrestles With Worst Outbreak of Plague in Half a Century

Although the plague—also known as Black Death, the disease that decimated Europe’s population in the 14th century—is endemic in Madagascar, it has struck some of the islands’ nonendemic areas and densely-populated cities for the first time. The vast majority of the cases have been pneumonic plague, which is the most virulent form of the bacterial disease and can quickly and easily spread from one person to another through droplets in the air.

Medieval Pandemic Cures That Were…Medieval

The location of bloodletting was thought to be relevant to the ailment. In one reference volume dating to about 1410 — a sort of early almanac — the authors published a rough drawing of a “vein man,” detailing where and how to bleed a patient. Each vein and location on the body was provided with instructions as to how the bleeding should be carried out, depending on the medical problem.

No, Rats Are Not Exonerated From The Black Death

Scholars have debated the details of the Black Death for at least a century. The general consensus is that the source of the pandemic was plague, a nasty zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, although some experts maintain other infectious agents may be to blame. Still, Yersinia DNA has been found in the teeth of Black Death victims at archaeological sites, which suggests that plague was at least partly resposible for the widespread deaths.

Plague bacteria may be hiding in common soil or water microbes, waiting to emerge

Plague is a highly contagious disease that has killed millions of people over the past 1,400 years. Outbreaks still sporadically occur in as many as 36 countries worldwide. Perhaps one of the greatest remaining mysteries surrounding plague is how and where it survives between outbreaks.

Plague Gives Surprises in the First Decade of the 21st Century in the United States and Worldwide

As a zoonotic, pandemic scourge, plague has killed millions of persons during three pandemic waves from Biblical times to the present but has been slowed in the past century by improvements in rodent-proof housing, urban hygiene, and clothing that protects against flea bites. The causative agent Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative bacterium that harbors three virulence plasmids...

Plague in Yosemite

Plague is a rare but serious disease that humans can contract from infected rodents or their fleas. Plague is most commonly transmitted by the bite of an infected flea. Occasionally, it is transmitted through contact with tissues from an infected animal, or rarely through contact with infectious respiratory droplets, from coughing or sneezing. The rodents most commonly associated with plague in Yosemite are ground squirrels and chipmunks, but any mammal can potentially be infected. Domestic cats and sometimes dogs are susceptible to plague infection and can transmit the disease to their owners if not treated promptly.

Plague isn’t back… It never went away

Plague (aka the "black death") is a fascinating disease. It is one of the most important diseases in human history because it had a devastating impact of the human population during various outbreaks. Many people may not realize it, but plague is not just a historical problem – it is still alive and well in some areas of the world.

Plague outbreak: where does it still exist and could it spread?

Plague was responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths in three devastating pandemics, including the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, the Black Death in the 14th century, and the Third Pandemic that originated in China in the 19th century. In these pandemics, it’s generally thought plague was introduced by rats (often transported on ships) then transmitted to local rats in domestic settings. Fleas then transmit the bacterium between infected rats and humans. But there’s still some debate on the transmission pathways of plague in these pandemics.

Plague Still Exists. Here's Where and How It Spreads in the U.S.

Plague infections in humans are rare, but a case in Oregon reminds us that the disease is not gone.

Plague was around for millennia before epidemics took hold – and the way people lived might be what protected them

Why didn’t these earlier infections lead to devastating outbreaks like the Black Death? It seems the answer is part biological — genetic mutations to the bacteria itself — and part cultural — changes to human lifestyles that encouraged the spread of the disease.

The Bright Side of the Black Death

When the plague hit in the mid-1300s, no one knew what caused this dreadful pestilence. Some took it as divine punishment for the world’s wicked ways, possibly the end of the world. Others blamed Jews, foreigners, travelers, and lepers, who were shunned and turned away where once they had been welcomed or at least accepted. Some towns barricaded themselves in, afraid to let anyone in who was not already there and equally afraid to let anyone out.

The History of Plague – Part 1. The Three Great Pandemics

There have been three great world pandemics of plague recorded, in 541, 1347, and 1894 CE, each time causing devastating mortality of people and animals across nations and continents. On more than one occasion plague irrevocably changed the social and economic fabric of society.

The Plague is Tough, Take Care and Stuff

There are three forms of plagues that affect humans and animals in various ways: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. Most cases that occur in the United States are the bubonic form and 1,000-2000 cases are reported worldwide. Fleas are the primary transmission source for plague and their bite can result in either bubonic or septicemic plague.

The Return of the Black Death

The disease remains an enduring threat in third-world nations; public-health watchdogs report up to 2,000 cases a year.

Wait, You Can Still Get the Plague?

While it makes sense, cosmically, that the plague would be yet another thing happening in the year of 2019, the plague never actually went anywhere. We just have modern health precautions for avoiding it now, as we do for many illnesses that are just a couple bites of undercooked meat away from killing us. Each year in the U.S., an average of seven people still get the plague. The most common is bubonic, though they’re all caused by the same bacteria.

We never really got rid of the plague. 3 people in China just caught it.

The plague is still a problem around the world — including in the US.

Why plague—one of history’s deadliest diseases—still afflicts U.S. wildlife

Centuries after it ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages, plague remains endemic in the western U.S. Here’s why—and the risk it poses to humans today.

Yersinia pestis and plague: an updated view on evolution, virulence determinants, immune subversion, vaccination, and diagnostics

Plague is a vector-borne disease caused by Yersinia pestis. Transmitted by fleas from rodent reservoirs, Y. pestis emerged <6000 years ago from an enteric bacterial ancestor through events of gene gain and genome reduction. It is a highly remarkable model for the understanding of pathogenic bacteria evolution, and a major concern for public health as highlighted by recent human outbreaks.

‘Plague at the Golden Gate’ Review: An Infectious Prejudice

PBS’s ‘American Experience’ production looks at an outbreak of plague in San Francisco and the scapegoating of the Asian community that followed.

Resources

Black Death

The Black Death was 'a squalid disease that killed within a week' and a national trauma that utterly transformed Britain. Dr Mike Ibeji follows its deadly path.

Plague

A small group of survivors seek shelter from an infection that has spread like a plague among the human race. Evie (Tegan Crowley) and her fellow survivors find refuge and wait for her husband John’s (Scott Marcus) return. After the infected attack, Evie refuses to abandon her husband against the wishes of the group. The survivors revolt leaving Evie to an uncertain fate. With the unexpected arrival of Charlie (Steven Kennedy) what appears to be an opportunity at a new beginning quickly turns into a horror as menacing as the infected that pursue them.

Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe

The coming of the Black Death, when in just two years perhaps one third to one half of Europe's population was destroyed, marks a watershed in Medieval and Renaissance European History.

CDC

Plague is a disease that affects humans and other mammals. It is caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Humans usually get plague after being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an animal infected with plague. Plague is infamous for killing millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Today, modern antibiotics are effective in treating plague.

CIDRAP

In primary pneumonic plague, as with bubonic plague, organisms often enter the bloodstream and cause multiorgan involvement, DIC, and shock. In the absence of early antibiotic therapy (ie, within the first 24 hours), death occurs from overwhelming sepsis (usually within several days after illness onset). Without therapy, mortality approaches 100%.

MayoClinic

Plague is a serious bacterial infection that's transmitted by fleas. Known as the Black Death during medieval times, today plague occurs in fewer than 5,000 people a year worldwide. It can be deadly if not treated promptly with antibiotics. The organism that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, lives in small rodents on every continent except Australia. The organism is transmitted to humans who are bitten by fleas that have fed on infected rodents or by humans handling infected animals. The most common form of plague results in swollen and tender lymph nodes — called buboes — in the groin, armpits or neck. The rarest and deadliest form of plague affects the lungs, and it can be spread from person to person.

MedicineNet

Approximately 10 to 20 people in the United States develop plague each year from flea or rodent bites—primarily from infected prairie dogs—in rural areas of the southwestern United States. About 1 in 7 of those infected die from the disease. There has not been a case of person-to-person infection in the United States since 1924. Worldwide, there have been small plague outbreaks in Asia, Africa, and South America.

MedlinePlus

Plague is an infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The bacteria are found mainly in rats and in the fleas that feed on them. People and other animals can get plague from rat or flea bites. In the past, plague destroyed entire civilizations. Today plague is uncommon, due to better living conditions and antibiotics.

Patient

Human infection most commonly results from being bitten by a rat flea called Xenopsylla cheopis. These fleas feed off the infected rodents and swallow the bacteria which then multiply in the fleas stomach. This makes the flea hungry and they then bite a human and vomit the bacteria into the bite. The flea dies of subsequent starvation as the bacteria in the stomach inhibits blood flow to the gut making them vomit when they eat.

WHO

Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia Pestis, a zoonotic bacteria, usually found in small animals and their fleas. It is transmitted between animals and humans by the bite of infected fleas, direct contact, inhalation and rarely, ingestion of infective materials. Plague can be a very severe disease in people, with a case-fatality ratio of 30%-60% if left untreated. There are 3 forms of plague infection, depending on the route of infection: bubonic, septicaemic and pneumonic.