Yersinia pestis Essay

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Yersinia pestis In 541 A.D., a plague known as the Plague of Justinian named after the Byzantine emperor is the first Black Plague. This plague wiped out millions of people throughout Eastern Roman/Byzantine region, which is called Istanbul today. Then between 1347 and 1351 the well-known Black Plague, also called the Black Death, is the most devastating pandemic in our history. It was estimated that tens of millions of people dies in Europe during this time. It is said that the cause of both plagues was linked to Yersinia pestis. But was it the same strain or not? Yersinia pestis is a facultative anaerobic bacterium that infects humans and animals. Yersinia pestis mainly infects rats and other rodents which are the prime source for the bacteria. Fleas are the prime vectors carrying the bacteria from one species to another. The fleas bite rodents infected with Yersinia pestis and then the fleas bite people and the disease is transmitted. In recent years scientists have been able to confirm that the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death were indeed caused by Yersinia pestis. To find out if the strains matched, scientists were able to extract DNA from those that were victims of both plagues. By digging up the victims and using the DNA found in their teeth it was determined that it was two spate strains. Now the question becomes, can this pandemic occur again? Even though scientists believe this bacterium is more than capable of causing a reoccurrence in this

yersinia pestis Essay

Yersinia pestis (the bacteria that causes plague) is often found in animals such as rats and prairie dogs. Bubonic plague transmission usually occurs through bites from infected rodent fleas, direct contact with infected tissue or bodily fluids, or inhaling infected droplets. Fleas Fleas Between 1900 and 2010, 999 confirmed or probable human plague cases occurred in the United States. Over 80% of United States plague cases have been the bubonic form. In recent decades, an average of seven human…

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How Did Yersinia Pestis Cause The Black Death

unawareness of their surroundings. In a variety of places, dead animals lying around almost always carry a disease. Bacteria increases in numbers, and not in size. It is able to produce as many as thirty-three million cells in about twelve hours. Yersinia pestis is the bacteria which caused the black plague. It is important to understand the cause of the black death and its effect of millions of deaths. The black death is a bacterial…

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How Did The Disease Cause The Black Death

In 1894 a French Microbiologist Alexandre Yersin found that Yersinia pestis, Bubonic Plague, was most likely the cause of the Black Death. He believed this because he found that the bacteria is commensal in many types of wild rodents, but can be transmitted to rats and other rodents by fleas where it results in the disease causing the rats to die and for the fleas to seek a new host, namely humans. Yersinia pestis also is a Gram-negative bacterium. Gram-negative bacteria are resistant…

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Yersina Pestis Essay

once known as the ‘black death’. It is a disease that once nearly took out an entire civilization, and it is still around today in some parts of the world, however, under more controlled circumstances. ‘Bubonic Plague’ is caused by the pathogen, Yersinia Pestis. This pathogen is a bacteria that is generally gram-negative and rod-shaped (bacillus). All eukaryotic cells are vulnerable to this dread bacterium, which is also responsible for pneumonic and septicemic plagues. This disease, or more specially…

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The Black Plague Essay

Plague is a disease contracted from diseased animals, mostly by fleas, to human. The Black Plague then may be contracted by humans touching or breathing on one another. This disease is highly deadly and the bacterium that causes this disease is Yersinia Pestis. The Black Plague or as many call it “The Black Death” arrived in Europe by sea October 1347 when twelve Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after traveling through the Black Sea. Europe’s communities were devastated by…

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black death Essay

years 1346–53.[1][2][3] Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, probably causing several forms of plague.[4][5] The Black Death is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road, reaching the Crimea by 1343.[6] From there, it was most…

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Essay about Bubonic Plague Terror

humans,and rodentsBubonic plague is one form of plague. Bubonic plague is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis. These bacteria are found mainly in rodents, particularly rats, and in the fleas that feed on them. Other animals and humans usually contract the bacteria from rodent or flea bites. Usually, bubonic plague is spread by being bitten by an infected flea or rodent. In rare cases, Yersinia pestis bacteria that is present on a piece of contaminated clothing or other material used by an infected…

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Pneumonic Plague: The Black Death

Researches and investigations concluded that this plague spread through the fleas living on rats. The infected fleas would then move from rats to the humans. People bitten by the flea would get the plague and the cycle continued. The plague Yersinia pestis came in two different forms, Septicaemic Plague and Pneumonic Plague. Septicaemic Plague occurs when the plague bacteria affects the bloodstream. Pneumonic Plague takes place when plague bacteria affects the lungs and causes pneumonia. During…

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Black Plague Research Paper

Yersinia pestis, also known as the Black Plague, killed 1.5 million people in Medieval England between 1348-1350. Blackening and loss of tissue are a few of the side effects of the black plague. There are three main types of the plague: the bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. “The Bubonic plague is the most common variety of the disease. It's named after the buboes — swollen lymph nodes — which typically develop within a week after an infected flea bites you. Buboes may be: Situated in the groin, armpit…

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The Bubonic Plague In John Kelly's The Black Death

The Black Death, a plague from 1346 to 1353, is one of the most deadly diseases ever documented, killing over 40% of the population in Europe. After getting the disease during this pandemic, victims would have symptoms of high fever, rash, and buboes or swellings in the armpits and groin. After developing these, the infected person would often die in less than three days. The disease spreads throughout small villages, seaports, families, and cities, infecting many rapidly (Kelly, pg 21). The historical…

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