Black death may plague the world yet again

January 15, 2008

January 16, 2008

LONDON: Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is

re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat,

researchers warned yesterday.

While it has only killed about 200 people a year in the past 20 years,

plague has appeared in new countries in recent decades and is now

shifting into Africa, said ecologist Begon, and fellow

scientists at Britain's University of Liverpool.

A bacterium called Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague, known in

medieval times as the Black Death, and the more dangerous pneumonic

plague.

" 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, " the researchers 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, Dr

Begon said. Both forms can kill within days if not treated with

antibiotics.

" Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there

have been major outbreaks in Africa, " he said.

Globally the World Health Organisation reports about 1000 to 3000

plague cases a year, with most in the past five years in Madagascar,

Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

More worryingly, outbreaks seem on the rise after years of relative

inactivity in the 20th century, Dr Begon said.

Bubonic plague, called the Black Death because of black bumps that

often develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and high

fever. Pneumonic plague causes similar symptoms but not the black

bumps. Reuters

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