The Black Death walks the land of the free!

I hadn't seen anyone mention this so thought I would post about it.

Today a New Mexico resident walked into a New York hospital criticly ill with the Bubonic plague. Doctors are speculating that he caught it from fleas on rats in his native state.

If I were a pessimist, Id start rereading Revelations

Everybody knows that Dubya's election was the first sign of the end times... what did you expect?

[Mack_Attack]

That sounds very scary. How is the virus spread??

Better call in the out break crew.

Bubonic Plague is usually carried and spread by fleas. I THINK the doctor on the radio this morning said that it is not contagious human to human, maybe Attalus will be able to add some info?

[Epona]

It's never really been eradicated, it's endemic (ie. prevalent) in all parts of the world except Europe and Antarctica. Another epidemic is expected by the medical community.

Can be spread by coughing, sneezing, and even talking can shower someone with the Yersinia Pestis bacteria by an infected person, but this only occurs in the most serious cases. Symptoms: Swollen lymph nodes, high fever, delerium. As it's a bacteria it can be treated very effectively with antibiotics.

It also survives as spores in the ground for centuries. If they are inhaled they can cause the disease. Archaeologists excavating 16th and 17th century plague pits in Britain wear masks so they don't breath it in.

[Rageheart]

i thought they had i cure, but i coulld be wrong

Ah-HA! I knind of thought that Doc in NY sounded like he was doing damage controll when he said it couldn't be spread human to human [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for the info Epona!

Edit: As Epona pointed out, the treatmentis Anti-Biotics and the Black Death is notlikely to do the damage it did in the 16th century again.

[ 11-07-2002, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Epona]

Originally posted by Rageheart: i thought they had i cure, but i coulld be wrong

Yes, they do - antibiotics!
It's no longer fatal if you get treatment. Without treatment it's fatal in 60-70% of cases, usually within a week of onset of symptoms.

[Attalus]

Epona is quite right. Bubonic plague can only be spread by "vectors," i.e. rat fleas, except in one form, "Pneumonic Plague," (yeah, I know it rhymes) which is spread through the air by droplets. It is quite treatable with tetracyclines and the quinolones. BTW, it is not a viruus, but, as Epona again says, a bacillus, Yersenia pestis. This is by no means as bad as smallpox or Ebola virus.

[DragonMage]

Originally posted by MagiK: If I were a pessimist, Id start rereading Revelations

LOL! Hmmm...I'm getting deja vu from an earlier thread on earthquakes here. [img]tongue.gif[/img]