After a series of biochemical tests and evaluation to determine several unknown bacteria, the bacterium Yersinia pestis was chosen to report. The discovery of Y. pestis dates back to 1894 by French/Swiss physician and bacteriologist named Alexandre Yersin. The name Yersinia pestis is synonymous with its more common name, the plague. Y. pestis is known to infect small rodents such as mice and rats, but is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected animal or flea. Although this bacterium is known to still cause illness today, it is infamous for three pandemics that occurred in earlier centuries. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first recorded pandemic occurred in 541 A.D. and is known as the Justinian Plague. The second pandemic originated in China in 1334 and has received the egregious name the “Black Death.” Finally, the third outbreak took place in the 1860’s and is known as the Modern Plague. It wasn’t until the end of the Modern Plague that scientists discovered the causative agent and mode of transmission of the Yersinia pestis bacterium.
Yersinia pestis is a zoonosis disease categorized in the family enterobacteriaceae. It is a non-spore forming, gram-negative coccobacilli that, when grown on agar, forms pin-point white/translucent colonies. Defining qualities of the Y. pestis are it’s bipolar staining, it’s negative test results for lactose fermentation, urease, and indole production, and positive testing for catalase. This pleomorphic bacterium is facultatively aerobic with an optimal growth temperature at 28 degrees Celsius. At temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius, it appears the Y. pestis is non-motile, but at temperatures less than 30 degrees Ce...
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...uciana L. "Challenges to the Laboratory Diagnosis of Yersinia Pestis in the Clinical Laboratory." Lab Diagnosis of Y. Pestis. UPMC Center for Health Security, 29 Dec. 2005. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Du, Yidong, Roland Rosqvist, and Ake Forsberg. "Role of Fraction 1 Antigen of Yersinia pestis in Inhibition of Phagocytosis." Role of Fraction 1 Antigen of Yersinia Pestis in Inhibition of Phagocytosis. American Society for Microbiology, 05 Dec. 2001. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
"Plague." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 June 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
"Plague." Treatment at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
"Yersinia Pestis - Plague -- Discover Life." Yersinia Pestis - Plague -- Discover Life. The Global Invasive Species Database, 31 Mar. 2006. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Plagues and Peoples written by William H. McNeill follows the patterns of epidemics and endemics within human history. It is within this history that McNeill finds parallels between diseases and humans in the forms of microparasitism and macroparasitism. Merely from the title, McNeill gives equal importance to viruses and humankind. In several instances, humans behave the same way viruses, bacteria, and parasites do in order to survive and to compete. Surprisingly enough, McNeill’s overarching theme can be summarized using his last sentence, asserting that “Infectious disease which antedated the emergence of humankind will last as long as humanity itself, and will surely remain, as it has been hitherto, one of the fundamental parameters and
Table 6 shows the results of the biochemical tests. The isolate can obtain its energy by means of aerobic respiration but not fermentation. In the Oxidation-Fermentation test, a yellow color change was produced only under both aerobic conditions, indicating that the EI can oxidize glucose to produce acidic products. In addition to glucose, the EI can also utilize lactose and sucrose, and this deduction is based on the fact that the color of the test medium broth changed to yellow in all three Phenol Red Broth tests. These results are further supported by the results of the Triple Sugar Iron Agar test. Although the EI does perform fermentation of these three carbohydrates, it appears that this bacterium cannot perform mixed acid fermentation nor 2,3-butanediol fermentation due to the lack of color change in Methyl Red and Vogues-Proskauer
The Black Death (also called the "plague" or the "pestilence", the bacteria that causes it is Yersinia Pestis) was a devastating pandemic causing the death of over one-third of Europe's population in its major wave of 1348-1349. Yersinia Pestis had two major strains: the first, the Bubonic form, was carried by fleas on rodents and caused swelling of the lymph nodes, or "buboes", and lesions under the skin, with a fifty-percent mortality rate; the second, the pneumonic form, was airborne after the bacteria had mutated and caused fluids to build up in the lungs and other areas, causing suffocation and a seventy-percent mortality rate.
Plague is a song that was released in 2012 by the Canadian, electropunk, witch-house group known as Crystal Castles. The song’s lyrics make strong allusions to the infamous Bubonic Plague or Black Death. The Bubonic Plague was a horrible disease that was spread in the 1300s by the fleas of infected rats. In the 13th century a third of the people in Europe died of this illness (http://www.livescience.com/36060-people-catch-plague.html).This disease still exists today; however, since the Bubonic Plague is the result of a bacterial infection, it is easily treatable with antibiotics (http://www.livescience.com/36060-people-catch-plague.html). It is tragic that, in the past, they did not have the basic medical knowledge to combat a bacterial infection;
One of the largest epidemic events in history, the Bubonic Plague had a devastating effect on European society. It is believed to have begun in China, and it reached European soil in 1347, when it struck Constantinople (Document 1). It was carried by infected fleas that spread the disease between humans and rats. A symptom of the plague was the development of large, dark swellings called “buboes” on the victim’s lymph nodes. By the time the plague left, Europe’s population had been reduced by almost half. The devastation as a result of the plague may seem shocking, but there were several important factors that contributed to its deadliness.
The disease was caused by a bacteria called Yersinia Pestis which was carried by fleas that lived on the black rats. These rodents helped spread the plague. The diseases spread one of two ways. The first was through human contact and the second was through the air, people were infected with the disease just by inhaling it. The symptoms and characteristics of the disease included fever, fatigue, muscle aches and the formation of buboes which is swollen lymph nodes. These buboes were usually found under the arm, on the neck or in the groin area. It is caused by internal bleeding which eventually forms black spots or boils under the skin (which is why it is called the black death). Death usually followed shortly after these symptoms
Today the world is plagued with a similar deadly disease. The AIDS epidemic continues to be incurable. In an essay written by David Herlihy, entitled 'Bubonic Plague: Historical Epidemiology and the Medical Problems,' the historic bubonic plague is compared with
Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill. (New York: Anchor Books: A division of Random House, Inc., 1976 and Preface 1998. Pp. 7 + 365. Acknowledgements, preface, map, appendix, notes, index.)
Lapaire, Pierre J. "The Plague: Overview." Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.
One thing that must be noted is that contrary to popular belief, infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc. are not desig...
Kirsten I. Bos, Verena J. Schuenemann, et al, “A draft genome of Yersinia pestis from victims of the Black Death,” Nature, 7370, (2011): 506-510
Yamaguchi, N., D. W. MacDonald, W. C. Passanisi, D. A. Harbour, and C. D. Hopper.Epidemiology and Infection, Vol. 116, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 217-223
Epidemiology and distribution: Bubonic plague also known as the Black Death is an old deadly illness that has re-emerged 3 times in the past. With exception of Australia, the deadly illness currently occurs in mainly tropical and sub-tropical of all continents and is more endemic in developing countries. In 1994 an ou...
...ing the expanding seriousness of the malady, it is additionally getting to be more hazardous in nature. Numerous components have been distinguished for this example of the infection. Some of them incorporate an absence of political will to anticipate and control the illness, lack of stores to execute preventive systems, inaccessibility of channeled water supply, expand in worldwide travel, and the absence of successful strong waste administration supporting the unchecked development of the larval habitats.
"CDC | Bioterrorism Agents/Diseases (by Category) | Emergency Preparedness & Response." CDC Emergency Preparedness & Response Site. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.