Category Archives: plague [bubonic]
Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly in fleas on small rodents, and is one of three types of bacterial infections caused by Yersinia pestis (formerly known as Pasteurella pestis), that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two thirds of infected humans within four days.
The term bubonic plague is derived from the Greek word βουβών, meaning “groin”. Swollen lymph nodes (buboes) especially occur in the armpit and groin in persons suffering from bubonic plague. Bubonic plague was often used synonymously for plague, but it refers specifically to an infection that enters through the skin and travels through the lymphatics, as is often seen in flea-borne infections.
NB all the 3 three outbreak started in eastern Asia and has a cycle about 600 year the next expected outbreak is 2500 AD
The first recorded epidemic ravaged the Byzantine Empire during the sixth century, and was named the Plague of Justinian after emperor Justinian I, who was infected but survived through extensive treatment.[11][12] The epidemic is estimated to have killed approximately 50 million people in the Roman Empire alone.[13] The historian Procopius wrote, in Volume II of History of the Wars, his encounter with the plague and the effect it had on the rising empire. In the spring of 542, the plague arrived in Constantinople, working its way from port city to port city and spreading through the Mediterranean, later migrating inland eastward into Asia Minor and west into Greece and Italy. Because the infectious disease spread inland by the transferring of merchandise through Justinian’s efforts in acquiring luxurious goods of the time and exporting supplies, his capital became the leading exporter of the bubonic plague. Procopius, in his work Secret History, declared that Justinian was a demon of an emperor who either created the plague himself or was being punished for his sinfulness
In the Late Middle Ages (1340–1400) Europe experienced the most deadly disease outbreak in history when the Black Death, the infamous pandemic of bubonic plague, hit in 1347, killing a third of the human population. It is believed that society subsequently became more violent as the mass mortality rate cheapened life and thus increased warfare, crime, popular revolt, waves of flagellants, and persecution.The Black Death originated in or near China and spread from Italy and then throughout other European countries. Arab historians Ibn Al-Wardni and Almaqrizi believed the Black Death originated in Mongolia, and this was proven correct as Chinese records showed a huge outbreak in Mongolia in the early 1330s.[15] Research published in 2002 suggests that it began in the spring of 1346 in the steppe region, where a plague reservoir stretches from the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea into southern Russia.The Mongols had cut off the trade route, the Silk Road, between China and Europe which halted the spread of the Black Death from eastern Russia to Western Europe. The epidemic began with an attack that Mongols launched on the Italian merchant’s last trading station in the region, Caffa in the Crimea.[10] In the autumn of 1346, plague broke out among the besiegers and from them penetrated into the town. When spring arrived, the Italian merchants fled on their ships, unknowingly carrying the Black Death. Carried by the fleas on rats, the plague initially spread to humans near the Black Sea and then outwards to the rest of Europe as a result of people fleeing from one area to another
The plague resurfaced for a third time in the mid-19th century. The initial outbreak occurred in China’s Yunnan province in 1855.[22] The disease remained localized in Southwest China for several years before spreading. In the city of Canton, beginning in March 1894, the disease killed 60,000 people in a few weeks. Daily water-traffic with the nearby city of Hong Kong rapidly spread the plague there, killing over 100,000 within two months.[23]
From China, the plague spread to the Indian subcontinent around 1896. Over the next thirty years, India would lose 12.5 million people to the Bubonic plague. The disease was initially seen in port cities, beginning with Bombay (now Mumbai), but later emerged in Poona (now Pune), Kolkata, and Karachi (now in Pakistan). By 1899, the outbreak spread to smaller communities and rural areas in many regions of India. Overall, the impact of plague epidemics was greatest in western and northern India—in the provinces then designated as Bombay, Punjab, and the United Provinces—while eastern and southern India were not as badly affected. Ultimately, more than 12 million people died from the plague in India (including present day Pakistan and Bangladesh) and China alone.
In 1899, the plague reached the islands of Hawaii.[24] The first evidence of the disease was found in Honolulu’s Chinatown on Oahu.[25] It was located very close to the island’s piers, and rats in cargo ships from China were able to land on the Hawaiian islands unseen. As the rats, hosts for disease-carrying fleas, made their way deeper into the city, people started to fall ill. On December 12, 1899, the first case was confirmed. The Board of Health then quickly thought of ways to prevent the disease from spreading even further inland. Their solution was to burn down any buildings in Chinatown suspected of containing a source of the disease. On December 31, 1899, the board set the first fire. They had originally planned to burn only a few targeted buildings, and thought they could control the flames as each building was finished, but the fire got out of control, burning down untargeted neighboring buildings. The resulting fire caused many of Chinatown’s homes to be destroyed and an estimated 4,000 people were left homeless.Australia suffered 12 major plague outbreaks between 1900 and 1925 originating from shipping.[27] Research by Australian medical officers Thompson, Armstrong and Tidswell contributed to understanding the spread of Yersinia pestis to humans by fleas from infected rats.[28]
According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic was considered active until 1959, when worldwide casualties dropped to 200 per year. In 1994, a plague outbreak in five Indian states caused an estimated 700 infections (including 52 deaths) and triggered a large migration of Indians within India as they tried to avoid the plague.
Another Death Of The “Plague” Colorado
Ebola And Bubonic Plague “Last Day Plagues Spreading”
The Return of the Black Death
Health Alert! Fleas Test Positive for ‘Plague’ Near Flagstaff, Arizona!
Chinese Officials Seal Off ‘Plague’ City, Puzzling US Experts
Fleas like this one are thought to be part of the deadly duo responsible for most plague deaths in the …
A city in China has reportedly been sealed off after one resident died from bubonic plague, but this way of trying to contain the disease is puzzling to infectious disease experts, who say the response seems extreme given the information released about the case.
According to news reports, Chinese officials have blocked off parts of Yumen, a city in northwest China, preventing about 30,000 of the city’s people from leaving.
A man in the city became ill after he handled a dead marmot (a large wild rodent), and died last week from bubonic plague. No other cases of the plague have been reported, according to the Guardian. About 150 people who had contact with the plague victim have been placed under quarantine.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis that is carried by rodents, and can be transmitted to people through flea bites or by direct contact with the tissues or fluids of an animal with plague, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is known for killing millions of people in Europe in the 1300s, in a pandemic called the Black Death.
Today the illness is treatable with antibiotics, the CDC says. Now there are fewer than 5,000 cases of plague per year worldwide, with most cases occurring in Africa, according to the Mayo Clinic. [Pictures of a Killer: A Plague Gallery]
There are several forms of plague. Bubonic plague, which the man in Yumen had, causes swelling of the lymph nodes, and it cannot be spread from person to person. However, if the disease spreads to the lungs, the person can develop pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted from person to person if a sick individual coughs droplets into the air, and another person inhales the droplets. But person-to-person transmission is rare, and usually requires close contact with the infected individual, the CDC says.
Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, said that sealing off a city is a rather extreme set of precautions to take for a single case of bubonic plague. “I feel there’s something here that we don’t know, because this seems a very expansive response to just one case,” Schaffner said.
“We have cases of bubonic plague from time to time in the United States, and they don’t require this kind of public health response,” Schaffner said. In recent decades, there have been an average of seven cases of bubonic plague a year in the United States, the CDC says.
When bubonic plague cases occur in the U.S., the public health response is very local — the patient is treated, and officials try to determine the source of the infection and warn people to stay away from the source, Schaffner said.
In cases of pneumonic plague, U.S. officials would speak with people who had close contact with the plague patient, and make sure any further cases were diagnosed quickly. People with pneumonic plague are isolated from other patients during treatment, the CDC says. This response has been quite sufficient for dealing with plague cases, Schaffner said.
Schaffner wondered whether Chinese public health authorities had more information that they have not released, such as reason to suspect more cases. “I’m very puzzled at the circumstances here, and what the actual hazard is,” Schaffner said.
Colorado “Rare Plague” 3 More Diagnosed
Colorado man diagnosed with PLAGUE after family dog drops dead
A Colorado man has been diagnosed with the plague.
The unidentified male came down with the lethal infection soon after his dog died – from the plague.
This is the first case of the pneumonic plague in The Centennial State since 2004, health officials said.
Seen under a microscope: The Plague, which a Colorado man has been diagnosed with, killed millions in Europe during the Middle Ages
Authorities would not say if the person was male or female, but KUSA was able to confirm the infected person is a male and is being treated.
He was diagnosed with plague shortly after his dog unexpectedly dropped dead, and authorities are blaming the death on fleas.
‘When the prairie dogs actually die, the fleas need somewhere to go. So once there is a prairie dog die-off, the fleas are out looking for somewhere to get a meal from,’ Jennifer House of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told the station.
Of the three types of plague that exist, pneumonic is the most troublesome because it is contagious and easily spreads from person to person.
Health officials are looking for anyone who may have come into contact with the person so they too can be given antibiotics.
The pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria as the bubonic plague – which wiped out half the population of Europe hundreds of years ago.
‘It’s what caused the Black Death back in the Middle Ages,’ Dr John Torres told KUSA.
Officials are not sharing what the man’s prognosis is, but the infection doesn’t normally kill people once treated.
Alex Infohub 