bubonic plague

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Oregon Resident's Case of Bubonic Plague Tied to Pet Cat

It's the first case the state has seen since 2015

(Newser) - Oregon has reported its first human case of the bubonic plague since 2015 , and the local health department believes the infection came from the person's cat. Though the plague wiped out more than a third of Europe's population in the 14th century, it's not so deadly these...

Scientists May Have Solved a Mystery of the Plague
Black Death May
Have Started Here
NEW STUDY
Jun 16, 2022 12:24 PM CDT

Black Death May Have Started Here

Researchers believe 700-year-old teeth point to what is now Kyrgyzstan

(Newser) - Researchers say they've discovered "when and where the single most notorious and infamous killer of humans began." They're referring to the Black Death, or bubonic plague, which is thought to have wiped out tens of millions of people in Europe, Asia, and North Africa during...

Doubt Cast on Death Toll From the Black Plague
Doubt Cast on Death Toll
From the Black Plague
NEW STUDY
Feb 11, 2022 12:28 PM CST

Doubt Cast on Death Toll From the Black Plague

Researchers analyzing ancient pollen deposits are skeptical it killed half of Europe

(Newser) - "It may still be the 'mother of all pandemics,' but what we think the Black Death was is changing," according to researchers, who are calling into question the widely reported claim that the bubonic plague pandemic from 1346 to 1353 wiped out half of Europe's...

Feeling Pandemic Angst? Shakespeare May Have, Too

And his woe may have influenced his later works, including 'King Lear,' one expert says

(Newser) - By now, we all understand all too well the feelings of fear, sadness, anger, and despair that the coronavirus has brought, with tens of millions of cases and 1.6 million deaths worldwide so far. Those emotions have triggered a revelation of sorts in Shakespeare expert Greg Doran, who now...

Colorado Squirrel Tests Positive for Plague
The Black Death
Surfaces in Colorado
Jul 15, 2020 12:33 AM CDT

The Black Death Surfaces in Colorado

Squirrel tests positive in Jefferson County

(Newser) - A squirrel in Colorado tested positive for the bubonic plague, Jefferson County officials announced. The Black Death, which started in the 1300s, was the deadliest pandemic in human history, but today a human's chance of contracting the plague is quite low, ABC News reports. Even so, the WHO has...

China's New Worry: the Bubonic Plague

Herdsman contracts it, likely from a marmot

(Newser) - China has another infectious disease worry on its hands, but this one is old school. As in, it's the bubonic plague, reports the BBC . It seems a herder in Inner Mongolia came down with the disease, and he's now undergoing treatment in a hospital, per the New York ...

Jailed Plague Expert Wants to Help Fight Pandemic

Judge denies murder suspect's bail request

(Newser) - An infectious disease expert wants to be let out of a Chicago jail to help fight the coronavirus pandemic—though fellow experts are unlikely to relish the prospect of working alongside a man accused of stabbing his boyfriend until the knife broke . Wyndham Lathem, a former associate professor of microbiology...

Couple Eats Raw Rodent Meat, Dies of Bubonic Plague

6-day quarantine declared in Mongolia

(Newser) - A Mongolian couple who took part in a supposed "folk remedy for good health," per the BBC , ended up dying of bubonic plague. The couple ate raw marmot meat and kidney and came down with the highly contagious plague, and on May 1, 118 people who had come...

American Child Gets Disease That Killed Half of Europe

It's Idaho's first human case in 26 years

(Newser) - An Idaho child has come down with a rare illness that once tormented medieval Europe. Details are scant, but the child contracted bubonic plague in Idaho or on a recent visit to Oregon and is recovering with antibiotics, per the Idaho Statesman and Oregonian . Where the child lives, in Elmore...

In Case of Black Death, Rats May Be Innocent
Don't Blame Rats for
Europe's Black Death
NEW STUDY
Jan 16, 2018 10:45 AM CST

Don't Blame Rats for Europe's Black Death

Human-carried parasites might be true culprits: study

(Newser) - Those poor, misjudged rats? According to infectious disease experts in Norway and Italy, rats aren't to blame for the spread of the Black Death, which has previously been referred to as the species' most infamous crime. In fact, humans might've been directly involved, reports the CBC . While studying...

New Mexico Confirms 3 Cases of Plague

Santa Fe County victims hospitalized

(Newser) - The New Mexico Department of Health on Monday confirmed two more human cases of plague. The recent cases involve a 52-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman. The first case this year was reported in early June in a 63-year-old man. All three patients, who live in Santa Fe County, were...

Source of London's Great Plague Is Found in Boneyard

'Yersina pestis' also responsible for the Black Death

(Newser) - Scientists finally know what killed 100,000 people in the Great Plague of London, or a quarter of the population, more than 350 years ago—and it would've been familiar to anyone around 300 years before that. An examination of 20 of the 3,500 skeletons found last year...

Oregon Teen Is Latest Plague Victim

That brings the total to 16 cases in the US this year

(Newser) - A teen in Oregon is the 16th person in the US to contract the bubonic plague this year. The girl fell ill on Oct. 21 while on a hunting trip in Morrow County and was hospitalized a few days later, officials say, adding she likely acquired the infectious disease "...

Michigan Gets First-Ever Case of Bubonic Plague

Patient probably got it on a trip to Colorado

(Newser) - Michigan doctors have an unwanted first on their hands: a patient with bubonic plague. It sounds a lot worse than it is, however. The unidentified patient is recovering and has a form of the plague that isn't contagious, reports MLive . And Michigan residents will be happy to learn that...

Colorado Already Has 2 Plague Deaths This Summer

Officials believe the victims were infected by fleas

(Newser) - A Colorado resident died of the plague Tuesday, likely after being infected by fleas from a dead animal. The unidentified adult becomes the second person to die from the infamous disease this year. A 16-year-old star baseball player died of the plague in June. Both victims likely had a rare...

Skeletons Under Railroad Could Tell Us About Plague

London excavation to unearth thousands of bones with possible bubonic clues

(Newser) - They came from every parish of London, and from all walks of life, and ended up in a burial ground called Bedlam. Now scientists hope these centuries-old skeletons can reveal new information about how long-ago Londoners lived—and about the bubonic plague that often killed them. Archaeologists announced yesterday that...

True Root of Black Death: Giant Gerbils?

Climate fluctuations suggest the plague entered European harbors from Asia

(Newser) - Much-maligned black rats and their fleas have long been blamed for spreading the Black Death that claimed millions of lives in Europe over the course of a few hundred years, but scientists now have a new critter they think was at fault. By studying tree rings to learn about precise...

NY Subway Has Bubonic Plague



 NY Subway Has 
 Bubonic Plague 
study says
Feb 8, 2015 4:30 PM CST

NY Subway Has Bubonic Plague

Study maps DNA of New York City storied subway system

(Newser) - Like riding the subway in New York? You're not alone: so do countless bacteria including bubonic plague, anthrax, and E. coli, the Wall Street Journal reports. A new study maps out the subway system's DNA, revealing an underground world packed with microbial diversity. "People don’t look...

China Seals Off City After Plague Death

Extreme response puzzles experts

(Newser) - Parts of a city in northwest China have been sealed off after a death from bubonic plague, according to state media, but some Western experts aren't sure we're getting the full story. Reports from China say the city of Yumen, population around 100,000, was split into quarantine...

The Black Death Had a Silver Lining

'Strong force of natural selection' left behind a much healthier population

(Newser) - If you can find an upside to the decimation of tens of millions of Europeans, a new study has it, per the BBC : It seems that the Black Death, which killed some 30% to 50% of Europe's population between 1347 and 1351, had the accidental effect of leaving survivors...

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