1. The Plague

2. a little bit o’ history… aka- The Black Death 14 century Europe Killed 1/3 of population

3. a nursery rhyme? Ring around the rosies -> symptomatic red patches on the skin Pocket full of posies -> people would carry roses in their pockets in attempts to ward off the disease Ashes, Ashes -> burn the dead bodies We all fall down -> 1/3 of the population dead www.imageenvision.com/md/stock_photography/00...

4. so what caused the Plague? i’m glad you asked! Yersinia pestis – Gram negative bacteria – Rod shaped – Facultative anaerobe http://www.eiu.org/experiments/dispersion/images/black_plagueC_icon.jpg

5. and how does one get this? Transmitted directly by flea bites http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/chemical-biological- warfare/plague_files/image001.jpg

6. so how is it so deadly? http://www.utmb.edu/gsbs/microbook/images/fig29_6.jpg

7. virulence factors aye? Virulence factors are located on multiple plasmids – Yops – F1

8. so how do i know if i have it? Symptoms develop abruptly in 1-6 days Sudden: – High fever – Patchy bleeding (rash) under the skin [DIC] – Large lymph nodes – DIC – Bloody sputum – shock

9. is this treatable? In 14c Europe: NOPE But today… – Tetracycline within 12-15 hours of fever onset – Vaccine Rat control

10. so does the plague still exist?

11. References MICROBIOLOGY: A Human Perspective, sixth edition. Nester. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yersinia_pestis http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/epi.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/epi.htm