The Transmission of Plague: Identification of the Cause - The Great Courses Daily News The Transmission of Plague: Identification of the Cause - The Great Courses Daily News Posted: 13 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST By Dorsey Armstrong, Ph.D. , Purdue University In the 19th century in Asia, plague caused death, suffering, and panic. But it is the 19th-century plague—and modern medicine's attempts to understand it—that would ultimately offer some answers about the Black Death and the Plague of Justinian that occurred in the 6th century. The plague bacterium was identified during the plague outbreak in Asia in the late 19th century. (Image: Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock) Isolating the Plague Bacterium In 1894, in Canton, China, a plague outbreak began, which quickly spread to Hong Kong through the constant trade traffic. Estimates suggest that somewhere between 50,000 and 125,000 people were infected in this massive outbreak; 80% of those who c...