Question

The bubonic plague, also called the Black Death, killed about 200 million people in the 1300s. The disease is caused by a bacterium, and it still persists in some areas of the world. Research the bubonic plague using credible websites and explain the role microbiologists play in researching and treating the disease

Answer 1

Bubonic plaque is a resultant of Yersinia pestis, that is, a bacillus form of bacteria. The bacterium is witnessed primarily in rodents and in their fleas. This bacteria gets transmitted via the bites of infected rodents and the fleas.  

At the end of the 19th century, Alexander Yersin, a French biologist discovered Yersinia pestis. It was the cause of the disease known as the black death. Later, with the study of nematodes, the genes that played the role in the transmission of the disease was identified. Other than this, the microbiologists came to know that the bacillus is transmitted from an individual to individual via the air, and through the bites from infected rats and fleas.  

On the basis of biologist Simond, the bacteria obstruct the digestive tracts of the fleas and instigate them to repeatedly bites its prey, thus, injecting and dispersing the bacteria. The bacteria attacks on the lymph nodes immune cells, and thus, the infection starts and gets transmitted to others as well.