Black death: why a medieval plague was so devastating - The Kozweek

The medieval pandemic of the plague had claimed so many lives because the disease was not quite usual way, found an international group of scientists.

It used to be that a huge number of victims associated with poor sanitation, crowding of the population and the helplessness of the doctors.

But this does not explain why the virus acted selectively killed mostly people and animals (including the main carriers of plague rats) remained alive.

Recent studies have revealed an unexpected picture of the disease, according to .

It turned out that getting into the human body, the plague Bacillus inhibited the enzyme activity of the TAK1 kinase, which is activated by a rapid inflammatory cell response to infection.

The infected cell continued to respond to lipopolysaccharide (activator of innate immunity), and perished.

During the standard process of destroying the cells they are split into several parts, each of which are surrounded by a membrane and are absorbed by other cells.

But infected with the plague mechanism was different. The integrity of the shell cage was broken, and its contents fell into the extracellular space causing an inflammatory reaction. It was not processed and did not leave the body, serving as reservoirs for infection.

Therefore, the disease was very hard and in most cases led to death.

The authors of the study noted that showed this pattern, but had not yet established the cause. When this problem is solved, it will be able to create innovative drugs for the treatment of diseases caused by such bacteria.

So, it is already known that in a similar way on the human body is affected by the Bacillus of pseudotuberculosis, a close “relative” of the plague.

Previously, scientists found the source of the European plague. The plague Bacillus was covered in the skins of animals obtained in the Urals. Merchants gained a valuable commodity during trips to Russia and the Golden Horde and sent it to Western countries was the beginning of the epidemic.

About The Author

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Ted Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Koz Week, Ted Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella.

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