Plague a growing but overlooked threat

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Plague a growing but overlooked threat

Plague, the disease that devastated medieval

Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a

growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22655919/

 

Plague a growing but overlooked threat

Disease has appeared in new countries in recent decades, experts warn

Reuters

updated 6:05 p.m. PT, Mon., Jan. 14, 2008

LONDON - 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. "

Globally the World Health Organization reports

about 1,000 to 3,000 plague cases each year, with

most in the last five years occurring in

Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda

and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United

States sees about 10 to 20 cases each year.

More worrying are outbreaks seem on the rise

after years of relative inactivity in the 20th

century, Begon said. The most recent large

pneumonic outbreak comprised hundreds of

suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of

Congo in 2006.

 

Bubonic plague, called the Black Death because of

black bumps that sometimes develop on victims'

bodies, causes severe vomiting and high fever.

Victims of pneumonic plague have similar symptoms

but not the black bumps.

Begon and his colleagues called for more research

into better ways to prevent plague from striking

areas where people lack access to life-saving

drugs and to defend against the disease if used

as a weapon.

" We should not overlook the fact that plague has

been weaponized throughout history, from

catapulting corpses over city walls, to dropping

infected fleas from airplanes, to refined modern

aerosol formulation, " the researchers wrote.

Copyright 2008 Reuters. Click for restrictions.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22655919/

 

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