Bubonic Plague

Armila Jovellanos Gas-4

The Black Death ravaged most of Europe and the Mediterranean from 1346 until 1353. Over 50 million people died, more than 60% of Europe’s entire population at the time.

Many historians believe it started in the Steppes of Central Asia, a vast area of grassland that even today still supports one of the world’s biggest plague reservoirs – an area where rodents live in great numbers and density (also called a plague focus).

Plague is mainly spread through the bite of a flea infected with the plague-causing bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Fleas typically live on small animals such as rats, gerbils, marmots and squirrels and periodically, explosive outbreaks of plague occur among these susceptible hosts. Huge numbers of animals succumb to infection and die. Hungry fleas turn to humans and within three to five days of a bite, fever, headache, chills, and weakness develop. Lymph nodes closest to the bite site swell to form a painful bubo in the variant of plague known as bubonic plague. Infection may spread throughout the blood stream and affect respiration in the lungs. Without prompt antibiotic treatment, 80% of infected people die within five days.

The epidemic of plague in the 14th century was not the only significant plague outbreak recorded in human history. The first reported pandemic broke out in Egypt in 541 and was designated “The Plague of Justinian”. The last major plague event began in the war-torn Yunnan province of China, reaching Hong Kong in 1894.

Even today, plague has not been eradicated, although thanks to the availability of vaccination and antibiotics, few people now die of it. Plague foci still exist in Africa, North and South America, and Asia.

Between 2010 and 2015 there were 3248 cases of plague reported worldwide, including 584 deaths. Most cases have occurred in Madagascar, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru.

From the 1 August through till the 22 November 2017, 2348 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of plague, including 202 deaths (case fatality rate 8.6 %), were reported by the Ministry of Health of Madagascar to the World Health Organization.

In the United states alone, 1040 confirmed or probable cases of plague occurred between 1900 and 2016; 80% of which were classified as the bubonic form. In recent years, incidence has ranged from one to seventeen cases (average of seven per year) per year, with most occurring in the rural west.