In 2022, it was discovered that there was a sudden surge of deaths in what is today Kyrgyzstan from the Black Death in the late 1330s; when combined with genetic evidence, this implies that the initial spread may not have been due to Mongol conquests in the 14th century, as previously speculated.
Bubonic plague may seem like a part of the past, but it still exists today in the world and in rural areas of the U.S. The best way to prevent getting plague is to avoid the fleas that live on rodents such as rats, mice and squirrels.
On 4 April 2022, the Provincial Health Division (DPS) of the province of Ituri declared a resurgence of the Bubonic Plague epidemic in the health zone of Rethy, in the territory of Djugu.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), through April 17 this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported 56 cases of bubonic plague, including two deaths.
Without prompt treatment, the disease can cause serious illness or death. Presently, human plague infections continue to occur in rural areas in the western United States, but significantly more cases occur in parts of Africa and Asia.
In total, 1,371 cases were reported with 535 deaths across Australia. Because of its coordinated and scientific approach to plague eradication, Australia fared better than many other parts of the world.
The pandemic of the 14th to 17th century was known as the Black Death, with an estimated 75 to 200 million people dying. The last cases of human plague in Australia occurred in the 1920s.
The eventual weakening of the pandemic was likely due to the practice of quarantining infected people that originated in Venice in the 15th century and is with us to this day. Improved sanitation, personal hygiene, and medical practices also played a role in ultimately slowing the plague's terror march.
The last urban plague epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles from 1924 through 1925. Plague then spread from urban rats to rural rodent species, and became entrenched in many areas of the western United States. Since that time, plague has occurred as scattered cases in rural areas.
Without the Black Plague, feudalism would persist and the class division in Europe would never end, similar to other parts of the world that stunted their development. One of the most significant features of an overpopulated feudalist society is that labour is cheap and hence easily accessible.
Researchers have long thought the catastrophe must have left a mark on the genome of survivors, giving future generations some immunity against resurgences of the plague. But identifying that mark has proved difficult, in part because genes involved in immunity rapidly change in frequency as new pathogens arrive.
No. Bubonic plague killed at least one-third of the population of Europe between 1346 and 1353. But that was before we knew it was caused by the bacterium Yersina pestis. Bubonic plague does still occasionally occur in small flare-ups of a few dozen cases, but we have antibiotics to treat it now.
It was known as the "Black Death" during the fourteenth century, causing more than 50 million deaths in Europe. Nowadays, plague is easily treated with antibiotics and the use of standard precautions to prevent acquiring infection.
Yersinia pestis (Plague) and Other Yersinioses
There are no plague vaccines for dogs and cats. Although vaccines have been used to prevent plague in highly at-risk humans, these did not protect against pneumonic plague. Currently there are no vaccines approved for use in the United States.
Today, scientists understand that the Black Death, now known as the plague, is spread by a bacillus called Yersinia pestis. (The French biologist Alexandre Yersin discovered this germ at the end of the 19th century.)
Covid-19 has devastated our world, but there are a few blessings: it very rarely strikes children, and its infection fatality rate — the percentage of those who are infected who die — is much lower than for many other famous plagues. Epidemic diseases like smallpox frequently killed 30 percent of those infected.
Plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics. Once a patient is diagnosed with suspected plague they should be hospitalized and, in the case of pneumonic plague, medically isolated.
Plague is a rare disease. The illness mostly occurs in only a few countries around the world. In the United States, plague affects a few people each year in rural or semirural areas of western states.
The Black Death (1346-1353)
Remove brush, rock piles, junk, cluttered firewood, and possible rodent food supplies, such as pet and wild animal food. Make your home and outbuildings rodent-proof. Wear gloves if you are handling or skinning potentially infected animals to prevent contact between your skin and the plague bacteria.
1. The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. The Black Death ravaged most of Europe and the Mediterranean from 1346 until 1353. Over 50 million people died, more than 60% of Europe's entire population at the time.
The caseload of human plague infection, a highly infectious and severe disease, is low in China, with just one in 2021 and no deaths, down from four infections and three deaths in 2020, according to data from the National Health Commission, which does not specify the types of plague for each person.
The plague disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is enzootic (commonly present) in populations of fleas carried by ground rodents, including marmots, in various areas, including Central Asia, Kurdistan, Western Asia, North India, Uganda and the western United States.