The Black Plague is back!?

LONDON (Jan. 15) - Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned on Tuesday.

Link

Scary if it's true!

P.s to the mods, not sure if this is in right topic, so please move to appropriate one if deemed nessecary.

[edit on 15-1-2008 by TheOmen]

It seems it's mainly increasing in African countries. But the disease is spread easily through the form of rodents.

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."

Could be pretty serious me thinks.

The good news is that it is curable now. The bad news is that the cure is controlled by Big Pharma.
One of the main reasons the plague was so bad in the Middle Ages, is that they thought cats (who caught the rats and kept the population down) were evil, they were witch's familiars and they killed all the cats in Europe.

reply to post by forestlady


It is good to know that we can cure it now, but as you say, the cure is controlled by the big pharmacutical companies.

still scary to think that you can die after only a couple of days if not treated though.

Ok, I'm just throwing this out there, but is it possible that this could be a controlled disease by the corps? Like the HN51, Sars, AIDS etc?

Yeah I thought of that, too. Strange that after hundreds of years it would become rampant again, huh?

They've found Plauge in the desert southwest for years. It's never been completely irradicated. I might be wrong, but I seem to recall hearing and reading that somewhere.

I didn't realise it had never been eradicated!

Well it just seems a bit scary that it could be on the rise again, hopefully not though.

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.

we should keep an eye on this

Originally posted by seagull
They've found Plauge in the desert southwest for years. It's never been completely irradicated. I might be wrong, but I seem to recall hearing and reading that somewhere.

You arent wrong. I live in New Mexico and we have cases of the Plague every single year. Some die, some dont. It all depends on whether or not they seek medical treatment or not. Far more concerning would be a Hantavirus outbreak, thats ugly stuff too.

Interesting! I read an article today here it is:

A new study of laboratory mice on the Hamilton Beach Strip confirms that pollution from QEW traffic and steel mills causes sperm mutations that are passed on to their offspring.

In a paper published in a U.S. journal Monday, the scientists said the implications for human health are unclear, but the changes have the potential to affect incidence of disease in descendants of the exposed rodents.
source

The plague has never been wiped out; but it is curable and preventable. I had to take what we called the plague shots in Hawaii. It's a 3 shot ordeal and tends to make you sick after each one. Big fun. While it's comeback isn't good news there are far bigger health concerns out there.

Forest lady you are right on the money with the middle ages history. Eliminating the cats caused it to spread much faster. As an aside my daughter and I would be burned at the stake if we were in the middle ages we have a coal black cat who comes when we call him and can make his eyes seemingly glow; I've also taken a live bird out of his mouth LOL. Sorry off topic; back on now.