Plague

spawns/iStock (NEW YORK) — A child in Idaho contracted the plague last year, leaving many wondering how the plague exists in the 21st century. The disease dates back to the Middle Ages, when it killed millions in a Europe, before the age of antibiotics. At the time, they did not realize the plague was carried by the fleas who lived on rats. Although the idea of the plague sounds dire, another “black death” is not coming. The plague, in spite of its lethal reputation, is not uncommon in the U.S. and it is usually no longer a death sentence. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the plague was first introduced in the U.S. in 1900 by rat-infested steamships. It is most common in the western U.S. What is the plague? The plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted by fleas. Infected fleas spread the infection to animals, commonly mice, squirrels, prairie dogs and even cats and dogs. Humans get the plague through direct contact with...

(NEW YORK) — A child in Idaho contracted the plague last year, leaving many wondering how the plague exists in the 21st century. The disease dates back to the Middle Ages, when it killed millions in a Europe, before the age of antibiotics. At the time, they did not realize the plague was carried by the fleas who lived on rats. Although the idea of the plague sounds dire, another “black death” is not coming. The plague, in spite of its lethal reputation, is not uncommon in the U.S. and it is usually no longer a death sentence. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the plague was first introduced in the U.S. in 1900 by rat-infested steamships. It is most common in the western U.S. What is the plague? The plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which is transmitted by fleas. Infected fleas spread the infection to animals, commonly mice, squirrels, prairie dogs and even cats and dogs. Humans get the plague through direct contact with infected anim...

According to Chinese officials, doctors have recently diagnosed a third case of bubonic plague in a month. Although the plague is life threatening, it is treatable. The latest outbreak should not inspire panic. Share on Pinterest Plague is transmissable via fleas infected with Y. pestis. The most recent case concerns a 55-year-old male who appears to have caught the plague from a wild rabbit that he had killed and eaten. This occurred in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The local health agency have published a press release explaining that the male — from Xilingol League — is receiving treatment, and that 28 people who had been in close contact with him are in quarantine. At this stage, these people have not exhibited any symptoms. This case follows two others that Chinese officials made public on November 12, 2019. These cases also occurred in Xilingol League. Bubonic plague, which the bacterium Yersinia pestis causes, is infamous due to historical pandemics. Today, howev...

Copyright 2019 CNN Copyright 2019 CNN Related Content (CNN) - First, they felt pain all over their body. Next, a lump -- sometimes as small as pea, other times as big as an apple -- protruded from their skin. Then, as the disease spread throughout their body, they coughed up blood . Finally -- for many of them -- came death. That was how people hundreds of years ago described the Black Death , which began sweeping across Europe in the 14th century, killing up to 60% of the continent's population in one of the worst pandemics in human history. Today, many of us think of the plague as something confined to the history books -- a grim symbol of the medieval period, before doctors knew about the existence of viruses or bacteria. But this month, three people in China were diagnosed with two different forms of plague , highlighting that while the plague is not as serious an issue as it once was, it's also not entirely a thing of the past. Neither is ...

First, they felt pain all over their body. Next, a lump — sometimes as small as pea, other times as big as an apple — protruded from their skin. Then, as the disease spread throughout their body, they coughed up blood . Finally — for many of them — came death. That was how people hundreds of years ago described the Black Death , which began sweeping across Europe in the 14th century, killing up to 60% of the continent’s population in one of the worst pandemics in human history. Today, many of us think of the plague as something confined to the history books — a grim symbol of the medieval period, before doctors knew about the existence of viruses or bacteria. But this month, three people in China were diagnosed with two different forms of plague , highlighting that while the plague is not as serious an issue as it once was, it’s also not entirely a thing of the past. Neither is debate about the cause of the disease, how it spread, and even where it came from. Plagued by ques...

This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, a weekly roundup of eclectic and under-the-radar health and medical science news emailed to subscribers every Saturday morning. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by  clicking here . It's not a headline that you expect to see in 2019. But plague is back in the news after China reported three cases of the infectious disease earlier this month. The first cases were recorded in a middle-aged couple from the remote region of Inner Mongolia, who were sent to Beijing for observation after struggling to breathe. The third case emerged last weekend : A hunter from the same region was diagnosed with bubonic plague after catching and eating a wild rabbit. About 28 people who were in close contact with the hunter were also put in quarantine. It's actually the second time this year plague has been found in the region; in May, a Mongolian couple died reportedly after eating raw marmot kidney , leading to a six-day quarantine in...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Climate change can raise risk of plague    South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2rl1H2A

According to Chinese officials, doctors have recently diagnosed a third case of bubonic plague in a month. Although the plague is life threatening, it is treatable. The latest outbreak should not inspire panic. Share on Pinterest Plague is transmissable via fleas infected with Y. pestis. The most recent case concerns a 55-year-old male who appears to have caught the plague from a wild rabbit that he had killed and eaten. This occurred in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The local health agency have published a press release explaining that the male — from Xilingol League — is receiving treatment, and that 28 people who had been in close contact with him are in quarantine. At this stage, these people have not exhibited any symptoms. This case follows two others that Chinese officials made public on November 12, 2019. These cases also occurred in Xilingol League. Bubonic plague, which the bacterium Yersinia pestis causes, is infamous due to historical pandemics. Today, howev...

BSIP/Universal Images Group reader comments 52 with 36 posters participating Share this story The last antibiotics generated against Gram-negative bacteria—which tend to be the more dangerous type—were developed in the 1960s. Thanks to the rise of antibiotic resistance, we need more. But rather than going through the trouble of trying to make our own, scientists have looked to other species that might need to kill the same bacteria that we do—we can just swipe theirs. Our own guts and soil bacteria have yielded a few recent hits. The latest organisms that researchers have looked to are bacteria in the microbiomes of roundworms that parasitize insects (technically termed enteropathogenic nematodes). They were considered promising candidates because the worms invade insect larvae and release bacteria. Those bacteria then have to fend off the ones already living in the insect larva, as well as all the other bacteria the nematodes just spewed out. Conveniently for us, tho...

According to Chinese officials, doctors have recently diagnosed a third case of bubonic plague in a month. Although the plague is life threatening, it is treatable. The latest outbreak should not inspire panic. Share on Pinterest Plague is transmissable via fleas infected with Y. pestis. The most recent case concerns a 55-year-old male who appears to have caught the plague from a wild rabbit that he had killed and eaten. This occurred in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The local health agency have published a press release explaining that the male — from Xilingol League — is receiving treatment, and that 28 people who had been in close contact with him are in quarantine. At this stage, these people have not exhibited any symptoms. This case follows two others that Chinese officials made public on November 12, 2019. These cases also occurred in Xilingol League. Bubonic plague, which the bacterium Yersinia pestis causes, is infamous due to historical pandemics. Today, howev...

Two people in China are being treated for plague, authorities said Tuesday. It’s the second time the disease, the same one that caused the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, has been detected in the region — in May, a Mongolian couple died from bubonic plague after eating the raw kidney of a marmot, a local folk health remedy. The two recent patients, from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, were diagnosed with pneumonic plague by doctors in the Chinese capital Beijing, according to state media Xinhua . They are now receiving treatment in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, and authorities have implemented preventative control measures. Plague, caused by bacteria and transmitted through flea bites and infected animals, can develop in three different forms. Bubonic plague causes swollen lymph nodes, while septicemic plague infects the blood and pneumonic plague infects the lungs. Pneumonic — the kind the Chinese patients have — is more virulent and damaging...

Beijing, the capital of the economic giant, China, is in the news currently for a far different reason – two patients have developed pneumonic plague. The patients, who hail from Inner Mongolia’s northwestern corner, are being treated at a high-level hospital there, amidst 21 million other people. The health authorities say they have put in place adequate protection and control measures to keep the plague from spreading. 3d representation of the Yersinia pestis bacteria better known as the bubonic plague. Image Credit: MichaelTaylor / Shutterstock The plague Pneumonic plague is capable of killing within 2-3 days, and is termed “the most virulent form of plague” by the World Health Organization (WHO). The symptoms of pneumonic plague include fever with chills, nausea and vomiting. Pneumonic plague spreads like wildfire, through close contacts. Transmission is via droplets, which are carried through the air to infect persons in the vicinity, to cause huge epidemics. In this ...

Two people in China have been infected with pneumonic plague, the most contagious form of the disease (representational image) Text Size: A- A+ New Delhi: Two people in Beijing were diagnosed with the pneumonic plague Tuesday. The pneumonic plague infects the lungs and though lesser known than the bubonic plague, is more deadly , as it can be transmitted between humans .  According to Chinese officials, the two infected people came from Inner Mongolia and travelled to Beijing seeking treatment. P ublic health officials are now working to ensur e that the disease does not spread.  The news, however, has caused alarm among Chinese citizens with someone taking to the popular social media site, Weibo, to put pressure on the government to release information on how the two travelled to Beijing, particularly if they used public transport. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that Chinese authorities have notified it about the cases of plague.  ...

The Chinese government’s response to this month’s outbreak of plague has been marked by temerity and some fear, which history suggests is entirely appropriate. But not all fear is the same, and Beijing seems to be afraid of the wrong things. Rather than being concerned about the germs and their spread, the government seems mostly motivated by a desire to manage public reaction about the disease. Those efforts, however, have failed—and the public’s response is now veering toward a sort of plague-inspired panic that’s not at all justified by the facts. On Nov. 3, Li Jifeng, a doctor at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, the capital’s key infectious diseases treatment and quarantine center, attended to a middle-aged man who was struggling to breathe and his wife, who was also running a high fever and likewise gasping for air. The couple had been ailing for at least 10 days by the time Li saw them. They had initially sought care some 250 miles north of China’s capital in Inner Mongolia, a frigid...