New plague pandemic still conceivable

Certain types of plague pathogen „Yersinia pestis“ spread worldwide

01/28/2014

American researchers have called for the causative agent of the plague „Yersinia pestis“ Developed a pedigree and found that the bacterium is apparently spread throughout the world. Accordingly, a re-cross-continental spread across the continent is possible for researchers at any time - even if special drugs against the disease would reduce the risk of a pandemic.

Researchers are developing family tree for bacteria
Researchers from the American Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff have a pedigree for the bacterium „Yersinia pestis“ created the highly contagious infectious disease „pest“ (Latin pestis „epidemic“) triggers. Although some strains of the pathogen possibly no longer exist - others, however, are now spread all over the world. As the researchers currently in the journal “The Lancet Infectious Diseases” Therefore, in principle, a new pandemic could break out at any time - but the risk today is much lower than in the past due to the pharmaceutical development of antidotes,

„Justinian plague“ and „Black Death“ claim millions of deaths
During their investigations, the team led by David Wagner had placed three major plague pandemics at the center of the investigation: „Justinian plague“ (after the East Roman Emperor Justinian I), which spread in the course of the 6th century in the entire Late Antiquity Mediterranean region and thereby demanded about 30 to 50 million victims. Second, the scientists focused on the so-called „black death“ (1347-1351), which claimed the lives of 25 million people throughout Europe, as well as the third plague epidemic that began in China in the late 19th century and claimed around 12 million lives worldwide.

US researchers sequenced earliest sprouts from teeth
In their work, the researchers deciphered the genome of the earliest offspring from the teeth of two victims, who had probably died around the year 540, compared this with 131 types of later plague pathogens and created a pedigree from the results. As a result, scientists were able to gain important insights into the pathogen „Yersinia pestis“ derived. According to him, the early strain of people who had died by 540 was probably extinct, whereas the later variant was distributed in Asia, Africa and Europe and was closely linked to the type of pathogen that triggered the third pandemic in the 19th century.

Rodents could trigger new pandemics worldwide
As the researchers continue to write, it can be assumed that the infectious disease originally outnumbered rodents to humans and could occur again and again today: „We conclude that the Yersinia pestis lines, which caused the plague of Justinian and the Black Death 800 years later, were independent emergencies that have passed from rodents to humans. These results indicate that rodent species are important reservoirs for the recurrence of various Y-pestis lines in human populations worldwide“, so the researchers in their article in „The Lancet“. (No)