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Bubonic Plague
Bubonic Plague is
an epidemic disease. It is transmitted from person to person by the bite
of the flies from an infected rodent. Or rodents infected rats are the
main cause. The disease is caused by the bacterium Yesinia. The
symptoms are characterized by
chills, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and the
formation of buboes. The bacterial
infection produced painful swelling of the lymph nodes called buboes. Prior to 1970,
both United States and Soviet biological weapons programs developed
techniques that enabled weapons developers to aerosolize plague
particles. Bubonic
plague is popular and referred as Black Death. The plague blackens the
skin due to dried blood that accumulated under skin. The first swelling
of this plague is observed in the groin.
History recorded the bubonic plague as significant cause of misery and death. The first recorded outbreak of bubonic plague was in 542–543.
This plague destroyed the attempts of the Roman emperor of the day to
re-establish a Roman empire in Europe. This is only one example of how
bubonic plague has changed the course of history.
The plague of London in 1665 killed over 17,000 people (almost twenty
percent of the city's population). This outbreak was quelled by a huge
fire that destroyed most of the city.
The disease remains present to this day. In North America, the last
large epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1925. With the advent of the
antibiotic era, bubonic plague has been controlled in the developed
world. However, sporadic cases (e.g., 10 to 15 cases each year) still
occur in the western United States. In less developed countries (e.g.,
in Africa, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil) thousands of cases are
reported each year.
We have contribute to its spread
In 1970, a World Health Organization study concluded that deliberate
dissemination of 110 lbs (50 kg) of aerosolized Y pest is over a city with
a population of approximately 5 million people could potentially result in
150,000 cases of pneumonic plague. Half of these cases would require
advanced medical care and approximately 20% would be expected to perish.
Prevention
The most effective
way to prevent bubonic plague is the maintenance of adequate sanitary
conditions. This acts to control the rodent population, especially in
urban centers.
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