Bubonic Plague Like Bacteria Found In British Trashbins

Bacteria from the same family as the Black Death was recently found inside British trash cans that are only emptied once every two weeks.

A health hazards study found among some of the trash cans collected every 14 days, a strain of bacteria eerily similar to that of the one that killed 75 million people during the Middle Ages, The Daily Mail said Monday.
The study found some of the bacteria found in the receptacles were from the exact family from which the yersinia pestis strain originated centuries ago.

Such troubling findings were included in the studies report, which suggested garbage collection in certain areas of Britain be increased to prevent potential health hazards.


SOURCE:
PhysOrg.com

I'm not really sure what to say, this is honestly a very scary thing.
An outbreak of bubonic plague in Britain would not only be devastating for
the UK, but considering the UK is one of the major global centers, it could
potentially spread across the globe, killing hundreds of millions, if not
billions of people.

I can't believe trash is'nt collected more often, I mean it's collected once
a week here, and even than I think making it twice a week would be a
good idea.


Comments, Opinions?

Bubonic plague can be easily treated with anti-biotics,s o don't worry about any new Pandemic...

It has to be said though that these new fortnightly collections (I live in one of those area's) are NOT popular. Especially considering that for several years running our council tax increases at almost twice the rate of inflation!

What do they spend the money on?

Printing leaflets in 20 different languages for the Poles, Asians, Africans etc etc..

Providing "Racial equality" services (to the tune of several million £'s for my town alone)...

Funidng special "race relations" events..

They have a real boner about race issues, our council. When in reality, no one gives a monkey's!

Originally posted by stumason
Bubonic plague can be easily treated with anti-biotics,s o don't worry about any new Pandemic...

True, but bacteria and viruses mutate pretty fast, so it would'nt be to hard to imagine
a new black death type disease that was immune to current antibiotics came about.

Don't you have to be bitten by a flea or something with it to get it? I doubt just the bacteria in a trash area would be much of a health concern unless there is no insect or rodent control measures being taken.

But picking up the trash only once every two weeks? What genius thought of that? I think we'd be buried in garbage if that happened in NYC....they work like 24 hrs a day here.

[edit on 5/8/2007 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Don't you have to be bitten by a flea or something with it to get it? I doubt just the bacteria in a trash area would be much of a health concern unless there is no insect or rodent control measures being taken.

Herein lies the problem, especially with summer on the way, as all the waste will rot fast and attract rats and vermin.

(note: they started the fortnightly colections midwinter, so people wouldn't complain)

Originally posted by djohnsto77
But picking up the trash only once every two weeks? What genius thought of that? I think we'd be buried in garbage if that happened in NYC....they work like 24 hrs a day here.

We can thank Labour for that.....

Calm down guys, Yersinia pestis is a naturally ocuring microorganism present in many things, soil, garbage etc. As anyhwere that has warmth, water and a nutrient source can permit the growth of many bacteria.
That includes up your nose and other warm damp places. Plasmid mediated resistance is the main danger for antibiotic resistance build up.
There are known routes and genes /plasmids for many batceria to develop resistance to antibiotics, Yersinia pestis is not one of them.

40% or so of the general public carry different strains of S aureus, some of which are pathogenic (dangerous to us). This is sometimes the resistant form of it the scare press (daily mail amongst them) talk about (MRSA)

So we (some of us) carry it around all the time...

So calm down the panic mode guys and think on this : There are more bacterial cells on you and in you than there are human cells in your body.

Chill out don't panic it's just the daily mail struggling to sell thier rag to the general public...

There are far more serious threats out there than that ...LOL NNeisseria gonorrhea being one. Very large source for Laryngitis btw ... and something else...LOL

Here in Canada ( Nova Scotia anyways ) the garbage and compost (green bin) pick ups alternate everyweek so it is "every two weeks ", garbage one week and compostable items the next.

During the summer months it usually increases to once a week for the green bin due to obvious concern of 'nastyness'.


Breakdown of Government policy:

First they tell you to put all compostable items in the newly provided 'green bin' to help with the environment.

So after they have everybody on board, saving the environment, they then advise green bin pick ups will be changed to every 2 weeks rather than the initial 1 week pick up. Thus saving the environment as well as the government some coin.

Then they tell you they will only collect a certain amount of 'garbage bags' due to the green bin's purpose of cutting down on waste, in the event you have more then the allowable amount of garbage bags, they politely leave the unpicked up garbage with a stick affixed to the bag stating... you are past your quota for the two weeks, you then retrieve your already 2 week old garbage and allow it to 'ferment' for another two weeks, yet saving the environment again as well as the government more money.

As posted at the top, they do change the pickup schedule for the green bins during the hot/humid summer months... but only because some concerned (insert subliminal adjective here) citizens pointed out the obvious effects of have rotting items sitting in a fair size green bin in the blazing heat for 2 weeks.

Sorry if I went off on one

Back on track....

Could this be a 'scare tactic' by someone who is opposed to the current pickup schedule. As many people, myself included, think of the Plague as the instant death with no cure.

Not knowing it can now be cured by simple antibiotics.

Just a thought.