Interesting stuff, from WORLD SCIENCE:
 

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“Black Death” could return, study warns
 
The recurring plagues known as the “Black Death,” which decimated medieval peoples, could return in modern times as antibiotic-resistant forms of the virus have emerged, a study warns.
 
These tougher strains are raising “serious concerns,” according to the study, published in the March issue of the jour­nal Infection, Genetics and Evolution.
 
The findings were announced on March 15 as archaeologists unearthed a “Black Death” grave in London, containing more than a dozen skeletons of people suspected to have died from the plague. The victims are thought to have died during the 14th century and archaeologists anticipate finding many more as they excavate the site.
 
The plague is a highly contagious disease affecting the lungs. Population levels suffered globally due to the plague, with around 75 million people globally perishing during the 14th century Black Death, ac­cording to researchers. The plague has returned episodically in re­cent dec­ades, although, thanks to mod­ern medical care, fatalities have not surpassed a few dozen in any recent out­break.
 
The new study analyses the Great Plague of Marseille, which caused 100,000 deaths between 1720 and 1723.
 
“It is quite in­struc­tive to re­vis­it the se­quence of events and de­ci­sions that led to the out­break,” wrote the au­thor, Chris­tian De­vaux of the Cen­ter for Path­o­gen­ic Agents and Health Biotech­nolo­gies in Mont­pel­lier, France.
 
“Although the threat was known and health sur­veil­lance ex­isted with quite ef­fec­tive pre­ven­tive meas­ures such as quaran­ti­ne, the ac­cu­mula­t­ion of small neg­li­gence led to one of the worst epi­demics in the ­city (a­bout 30 per­cent of ca­su­al­ties among the in­hab­i­tants),” he wrote. “This is an ex­cel­lent mod­el to il­lus­trate the is­sues we are fac­ing with emerg­ing and ree­merg­ing in­fec­tious dis­eases to­day and to de­fine how to im­prove biosur­veil­lance and re­sponse to­mor­row.”
 
“The risk of plague dis­semina­t­ion by trans­port trade is neg­li­gi­ble be­tween de­vel­oped coun­tries,” he added, but “this risk still per­sists in de­vel­op­ing coun­tries. In ad­di­tion, the emer­gence of an­ti­bi­ot­ic re­sist­ant strains of Yersinia pestis, the in­fec­tious agent of plague, is rais­ing se­ri­ous con­cerns for pub­lic health.” Ge­net­ic change has al­so made the bac­te­ria bet­ter able to live in mam­ma­li­an blood, he wrote.
 
In the April is­sue of the jour­nal Clin­i­cal and Ex­pe­ri­men­tal Im­mu­nol­o­gy, re­search­ers with the De­fence Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy Lab­o­r­a­to­ry, Salis­bury, U.K. note that work is un­der­way to­ward a vac­cine for plague.

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Thanks for that Steve.

Looks like we'll all be confined to our studios when it starts.

antibiotic-resistant forms of the virus

Hmm. The plague was caused by Pasturella pestis, a bacterium that is endemic in rodents in this country. Technically, there are no antibiotics that work on viruses, those drugs are called antivirals, but since P pestis is not a virus, the correct term is antibiotic. There are probably significant differences in virulence between the strains of P pestis that were prevalent during the great plague epidemics of the Middle Ages, or we would likely have seen continued serious outbreaks before the 1950's when  antibiotics started to become widely available. It was not antibiotics that stopped the plague, or arguably even control of rodent vectors by improvement in hygiene and extermination practices.


That is not to say that genetic changes in the bacteria could not again produce a highly communicable variety. Sporadic cases are often treated successfully with antibiotics, and loss of that option to control person to person spread would be problematic--and fatal for many of the infected. But that was never the major route of transmission in spite of the existence of the devastating pneumonic form of the disease. Modern hygiene including control of fleas and rodents has given us more protection from infectious bacteria than antibiotics.

Incidentally the Russians reportedly developed a weaponized strain of plague that was resistant to all antibiotics known at the time. This work was apparently done before the powerful genetic engineering available today. It is not at all inconceivable that a terrorist with a masters degree in biology and a little luck could do what nature has not.

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Did they say anything about the Fuschia and Periwinkle Death returning too?

I thought in part, this thread was going to be about the emergence of a new heavy metal band.  

If we all get sick; I sure hope to become a vampire like Louis de Pointe du Lac.

Ebola....now there is a worry....

Oh well, to be on the safe-side, we'll all have to live in our own hygienic little bubble and communicate in a virtual world, have additional outies and fed intravenously.

Welcome to the Matrix!