Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
It might seem ridiculous to worry about the bubonic plague in 2015, but that’s just what the World Health Organization is doing after 119 cases of the disease that ravaged Medieval Europe were identified in Madagascar last year.
“The outbreak that started last November has some disturbing dimensions,” the WHO said in a statement this week. “The fleas that transmit this ancient disease from rats to humans have developed resistance to the first-line insecticide.”
Bubonic plague is one thing; pneumonic plague is another
Black Death, or simply the plague, is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is spread by rodent-loving fleas. When a human is bitten by an infected flea, they can develop bubonic plague. Symptoms of the plague include swollen, painful lymph nodes, fever and skin color change in extreme cases.
If the infection progresses to the point where bacteria invade the lungs, the disease then becomes known as the pneumonic plague and can be spread by coughing and inhalation.
“If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics,” the WHO statement said. “Pneumonic plague, on the other hand, is one of the most deadly infectious diseases; patients can die 24 hours after infection.”
In Madagascar, 40 people died from the plague last year and the disease was found spreading within the slums of the country’s capital, Antananarivo. Experts noted that recent flooding in the country has displaced thousands of people, and along with them disease-carrying rodents.
“Measures for the control and prevention of plague are being thoroughly implemented in the affected districts,” the WHO said. “Personal protective equipment, insecticides, spray materials, and antibiotics have been made available in those areas.”
The organization does not currently recommend any trade or travel ban based on the current status of the outbreak.
Leave the furry friends in the forest
Typically, for a person to survive the plague, it needs to be diagnosed and treated in the earliest stages. In 2012, a 7- year-old Colorado girl came down with the disease and survived after a two-week battle.
The girl is thought to have contracted the disease when she asked to bury a dead squirrel carcass she had found. Fleas from the squirrel most likely jumped off the squirrel and onto the girl. It was the first confirmed case of the plague in Colorado in over six years.
In response to the girl’s illness, Colorado health officials posted notices at the campground about avoiding animals and wearing bug spray. The posting also made it clear that a background level of plague in wild animals is common in Colorado. At the time, health officials said they had only identified two other cases of the plague across the US, which is the typical amount.
That level of death is a far cry from the impact that the plague had across Europe during the Middle Ages. From about 1340 to 1400, the plague took the lives of millions of Europeans. In 1347, it killed about one-third of the continent’s population. During this time, the rest of the world was largely unaffected by the plague and many areas saw robust population growth.
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