DNA Results Confirm Cause of ‘The Great Plague of London’

The Great Plague of London, in 1665, has long fascinated historians. Roughly a quarter of the city's population were killed. Many have assumed the cause was the bubonic plague. And now scientists have confirmed it, by studying DNA from recently unearthed skeletons. Al Jazeera’s UK correspondent Barnaby Phillips reports from London.

Dark Ages Redux? Bubonic Plague Death Sparks Fears in Asia

The Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has toughened border controls at the crossings with its southern neighbour Kyrgyzstan. But it's not about politics, or economic sanctions, or a military build-up, it's the Black Death.

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Boy Dies of Plague in Kyrgyzstan

BBC: A 15-year-old herder has died in Kyrgyzstan of bubonic plague - the first case in the country in 30 years - officials say.

The teenager appears to have been bitten by an infected flea.

The authorities have sought to calm fears of an epidemic and have quarantined more than 100 people.

Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.

The teenager, named as Temir Issakunov, came from a mountain village in the north-east of the country, close to the border with Kazakhstan.

"We suspect that the patient was infected with the plague through the bite of a flea," health ministry official Tolo Isakov said.

He said teams had been sent to the area to get rid of rodents, which host the fleas that can carry the deadly bacterium. » | Monday, August 26, 2013

The plague outbreak is close to Chicama beach, a popular draw for tourists to Peru. Photo: The Telegraph
Peru Suffers Deadly Outbreak of Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague
THE TELEGRAPH: An outbreak of bubonic and pneumonic plague in Peru has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province.

Oscar Ugarte, the health minister, said authorities were screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, located about 325 miles north-west of Lima.

Chicama beach, a popular draw for tourists to Peru, is not far away.

Mr Ugarte said the boy, who had Down syndrome, died of bubonic plague on July 26.

He said on Monday that most of the infections were bubonic plague, with four cases of pneumonic plague. >>> | Tuesday, August 03, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Bubonic Plague Reported in Libya
BBC: The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending an expert to Libya to look into a reported outbreak of bubonic plague not far from the Egyptian border.

Libyan officials say at least one person has died and several more have been infected in the town of Tubruq.

Cases of the disease, which was known as the Black Death in medieval Europe, are reported quite frequently in sub-Saharan Africa.

Bubonic plague can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early.

The WHO received a request from Libya to investigate the suspected cases in Tubruq on Tuesday, spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said.

An expert is on his way to Tubruq where he will help a government team study epidemiological data and check the reported cases.

If confirmed, it would be the first outbreak in that part of Libya for about 25 years, Ms Bhatiasevi said.

The Associated Press news agency quoted a Libyan official as saying that two people had been treated and sent home, and 10 others turned out not to have the disease.

Plague primarily affects wild rodents, and is spread between them by fleas.

Humans who contract the plague through flea bites normally develop a bubonic form - in other words, a form that enters via the skin.

Besides Africa, cases have also been reported in some Asian countries and in the US in recent years. [Source: BBC] | Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The Plague is Re-emerging Worldwide
YAHOO NEWS: LONDON (Reuters) - Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned on Tuesday.

While it has only killed some 100 to 200 people annually over the past 20 years, plague has appeared in new countries in recent decades and is now shifting into Africa, Michael Begon, an ecologist at the University of Liverpool and colleagues said.

A bacterium known as Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague, known in medieval times as the Black Death when it was spread by infected fleas, and the more dangerous pneumonic plague, spread from one person to another through coughing or sneezing.

"Although the number of human cases of plague is relatively low, it would be a mistake to overlook its threat to humanity, because of the disease's inherent communicability, rapid spread, rapid clinical course, and high mortality if left untreated," they wrote in the journal Public Library of Science journal PloS Medicine.

Rodents carry plague, which is virtually impossible to wipe out and moves through the animal world as a constant threat to humans, Begon said. Both forms can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics.

"You can't realistically get rid of all the rodents in the world," he said in a telephone interview. "Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa." Plague a growing but overlooked threat: study >>> By Michael Kahn

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)