The bubonic plague is back. Should you be worried?

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Health

Context:

Health officials in Oregon, US confirmed the first case of bubonic plague in the state since 2005.

More on news:

According to various reports, the person probably got the disease from a sick pet cat.
Between 1346 and 1353, the bubonic plague killed as many as 50 million in Europe, known as the Black Death.
Medieval Europeans, however, did not have access to antibiotics.

What is the bubonic plague?

The plague is caused by Yersinia pestis, a zoonotic bacteria, i.e. bacteria that can spread between animals and people.
Y pestis is usually found in small animals and their fleas.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), humans can be infected in one of three ways
- “the bite of infected vector fleas”,
- “unprotected contact with infectious bodily fluids or contaminated materials” (like being bitten by an infected rat), and
- “the inhalation of respiratory droplets/small particles from a patient with pneumonic plague”.

What are the disease’s symptoms?

Plague symptoms can manifest in a number of ways.
Bubonic plague specifically refers to cases where bacteria gets into the lymph nodes.
According to the United States’ Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it can cause fever, headache, weakness and painful, swollen lymph nodes, and usually happens from the bite of an infected flea.
Septicemic plague happens if the bacteria enters the bloodstream.
This often follows untreated bubonic plague and may cause additional more serious symptoms. These include abdominal pain, shock, bleeding into the skin, and blackening of appendages, most often fingers, toes or the nose.
According to the CDC, this form comes either from flea bites or from handling an infected animal.
According to the CDC, it is the only form of plague that can be spread from person to person by inhaling infectious droplets — also making it the most contagious.

What was the impact of the Black Death?

The Black Death was the single most deadly disease outbreak in history till the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-20.
Taking into account the significantly lower population levels of the 14th century, the Black Death is still the most deadly outbreak of all time, by some estimates, wiping out up to half of Europe’s population.
A study published in 2022 in the journal Nature found that certain genetic mutations increased survival chances by around 40 per cent.
Unfortunately, this mutation, which has since been passed, has been directly linked to the incidence of certain autoimmune diseases — meaning what happened 700 years ago might be impacting your health today.
The Black Death also left lasting social, economic and cultural impacts in Europe and beyond.

Should one be worried about another Black Death?

Doctors do not expect the disease to spread from Oregon or cause any deaths among humans.
Bubonic plague epidemics became a thing of the past by the 1930s.
According to the CDC, a couple of thousand plague cases are reported worldwide each year, mostly in Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru.
Fatality is roughly 11 percent.
According to the CDC, all forms of plague are treatable with common antibiotics, with early treatment drastically improving chances of survival.