Bubonic Plague
Bubonic Plague is an infectious disease of animals and humans caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis. People usually get plague from the bite of a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an infected animal. Millions of people in Europe died from plague in the Middle Ages, when flea-infested rats inhabited human homes and places of work. Today, modern antibiotics are effective against the plague, but if an infected person does not seek treatment promptly, the disease is likely to cause illness or death. Despite its epidemic history and the deaths of millions of people, the public still knows little about the disease. Due to its bacterial nature, Yersinia pestis has proven difficult to classify; however, new technologies have allowed researchers to classify it more accurately in the past several years. Y. pestis is a prokaryotic bacterium and, therefore, is of the kingdom Monera. Taxonomists formerly classified its genus, Yersinia, in the family Pasteurellaceae, but based on DNA similarities to Escherichia coli, the Yersinia group became members of the Enterobacteriaceae family. Numerous biochemical differences among its members are the basis of differentiation among the members of the fam
Statistics reveal that only geography isolates the plague and that other factors do not hinder its spread. Outbreaks in people occur in highly rural communities and in inner cities. They are usually associated with infected rats and rat fleas that live in these areas. In the United States, the last urban plague epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25. Since then, human plague in the United States has occurred mostly as scattered cases in rural areas (an average of 10 to 15 persons each year). Globally, the World Health Organization reports 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year. In North America, biologists have found affected animals from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains, and from southwestern Canada to Mexico. Most human cases in the United States occur in two regions: 1) northern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and southern Colorado; and 2) California, southern Oregon, and Far Western Nevada. Plague also exists in Africa, Asia, and South America. The charts below show distribution in both the U.S. and across the world. In modern times, plague has shown no preference among individuals of either gender or of any race.
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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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