Back in this part of the world, it may not be so likely to see a rapid
outbreak of the plague from fleas, but the pests still have their dangers.
Set 15 years after
the outbreak of the plague that wiped out a significant amount of the human population, the narrative depicts Caesar (Andy Serkis) seeking vengeance for the brutal slaughter of his wife and child at the hands of a mythical figure known as The Colonel (Woody Harrelson).
He was a genius who invented calculus as a student at Cambridge during a 1665
outbreak of plague but failed to publish his findings; an egotist who would later covertly convene a committee to accuse his rival Gottfried Leibniz, an independent originator of calculus, of plagiarism; and a heretic who rejected the Trinity but was deeply religious (one fascinating document on display is his hand - drawn reconstruction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, based on biblical units of measurement).
In a modern
outbreak of plague, antibiotics and other medical advances help us fare better, but it remains a particularly nasty disease.
It wasn't the rats after all — gerbils, trade and climate fluctuations in central Asia were responsible for repeated
outbreaks of plague across Europe
Availability Natural
outbreaks of plague still occur - most notably in Africa, Asia and western USA.
A variety of strategies currently are used to control
outbreaks of plague, including dusting insecticides in prairie dog holes to control fleas.
Not exact matches
Why is it that animal viruses seem to be responsible for virtually every modern
plague — West Nile, Ebola, AIDS, SARS, and most recently, the frightening (but so far contained)
outbreak of bird flu in Southeast Asia?
The thousands
of skeletons originally interred from the mid-16th through 18th centuries at the Bedlam burial ground are expected to provide researchers with unparalleled information about a formative time for London that included the English Civil Wars, Restoration, the last major
plague outbreak and The Great London Fire
of 1666.
Plague is endemic in many countries — the United States had 16 cases
of bubonic
plague in 2015 — but Madagascar, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, and Peru are the countries that frequently have serious
outbreaks.
Igor Domaradskij put it this way in the introduction to a monograph: «In prior years we were told so often that infections such as
plague and cholera had been fully eradicated that
outbreaks of cholera... caught everyone by surprise....
In a report on the starfish released last week, scientists from the CSIRO, Australia's national research organisation, compare the starfish
outbreak to Australia's perennial
plagues of rabbits.
Moreover, increased population density and changes in economics have meant that the progress
of an epidemic will not necessarily follow the course nor move at the speed
of historical «
plagues» even up to the global influenza
outbreaks of the twentieth century.
Throughout their analysis
of plague in prairie dogs, they concluded that such diseases may «smolder» unnoticed in a population for years, rather than jump from species to species immediately before an
outbreak.
«The mass burials where our samples come from often represent events where hundreds
of people died
of plague during a single
outbreak,» Herbig says.
Research scientist Salkeld and Antolin, professor and chair
of biology in the College
of Natural Sciences, assert that the swirl
of ecological factors driving
plague outbreaks in prairie dogs can lend key insights into the study
of zoonotic diseases.
By comparing a most comprehensive digital inventory
of historical
plague outbreaks (7711 cases) against 15 annually resolved and absolutely dated tree ring - based climate reconstructions, it became obvious that east - west travelling waves
of Asian
plague epidemics repeatedly reached Europe.
The
plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is one
of the deadliest pathogens in human history, sparking three major pandemics: the
Plague of Justinian, which struck the Roman Empire during the 6th and 8th centuries; the second
plague pandemic, which first erupted in Europe in the mid-14th-century Black Death and continued to strike the continent in recurrent
outbreaks until the mid-18th century; and the third
plague pandemic, which emerged in China during the late 19th century.
Zhibin Zhang, an ecologist at the Chinese Academy
of Science's Institute
of Zoology in Beijing and a co-author
of the paper, says that in the event
of a
plague outbreak, «monitoring and prevention measures should be taken in regions facing an obvious increase in precipitation or flooding events, and with close transportation connections with
plague [centers].»
A team
of epidemiologists and viral experts from the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will attempt to reach the affected area, which is remote and
plagued by civil war, early next week to collect more samples and look for the source
of the
outbreak.
By comparing these cases with historical records, Stenseth's team were able to identify 16 years within the period from 1346 to 1837 in which brand new introductions
of Y. pestis are likely to have been responsible for
plague outbreaks, as opposed to infection from neighbouring regions or local trade partners.
Within a public health context, periodic monitoring
of the susceptibility status
of fleas in
plague risk areas would allow all regions to be prepared in the case
of an
outbreak.
The team analysed 4119 historical records
of post-Black Death
plague outbreaks and found that the vast majority were probably caused by similar
outbreaks nearby.
Dunkelberg says that individual cases
of plague could occur in Europe, but that
outbreaks would be unlikely.
The
outbreak is ongoing but, in spite
of appearances, Cryptococcus gattii doesn't exist to
plague us.
The arrival
of rats, a famous vector for the
plague, comes close on the heels
of the Justinian
Plague outbreak of 541 - 542 BC in the Eastern Roman Empire and around the Mediterranean.
Just 24
of the
outbreaks could have been associated with rodent reservoirs, according to the authors; eight
of those were traced back to the arrival
of plague - carrying ships, and there was no link between the remaining 16
outbreaks and climate fluctuations in Europe.
The focus
of the conference will be global health, using the Ebola
outbreak as a case study
of a modern
plague.
To expand on this perspective, the Princeton - Fung Global Forum will convene Nov. 2 — 3 in Dublin, Ireland, to examine global health, using the Ebola
outbreak as a case study
of a modern
plague.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, panelists will examine economic, environmental, political and historical issues in addition to those
of health and medicine to draw lessons from the current
outbreak and devise methods to prevent modern
plagues going forward.
Known as the Black Death, bubonic
plague killed millions
of people in Europe during a series
of outbreaks during the Middle Ages.
The film takes place in 1348 during the first
outbreak of bubonic
plague in England.
Set during the time
of the first
outbreak of bubonic
plague in England, a young monk -LSB-...]
IDW's sequel to David Cronenberg's horror masterpiece continues today with the release
of The Fly:
Outbreak # 3, and you can see a preview
of the issue right here... A disaster at Bartok Industries threatens to unleash a
plague of human / fly hybrids on the world.
IDW's sequel to The Fly reaches its conclusion today with the release
of The Fly:
Outbreak # 5, and you can check out a preview
of the issue right here... A disaster at Bartok Industries threatens to unleash a
plague of human / fly hybrids on the world.
IDW releases the penultimate issue
of The Fly:
Outbreak today, and we have a preview for you right here... A disaster at Bartok Industries threatens to unleash a
plague of human / fly hybrids on the world.
The Fits (Director: Anna Rose Holmer, Screenwriters: Anna Rose Holmer, Saela Davis, Lisa Kjerulff)-- In this psychological portrait, Toni, an 11 - year - old tomboy, is assimilating into a tight - knit dance team in Cincinnati's West End when a mysterious
outbreak of fainting spells
plagues the team, and her desire for acceptance is twisted.
Then there was the Gunpowder Plot, the attempt by Catholic rebels to blow up King and Parliament together, along with new
plague outbreaks and a highly theatrical state visit by King James's father - in - law, the King
of Denmark.
Cities throughout Asia that have purged street dogs have repeatedly suffered the consequences
of leaving the dogs» ecological niche open to invasion by rats, as triggered the
plague outbreak of 1994 in Surat, India, or monkeys, street pigs, or other animals who carry diseases as deadly as rabies but harder to eradicate.
Because prairie dogs are highly social animals living in tightly knit colonies, they suffer particularly high mortality rates from
plague; upwards
of 90 percent
of a colony can die off during an
outbreak.
However, it's a mystery as to how and where
plague hides between
outbreaks after a mass die - off
of host animals.
Just as scientists make forward progress towards a cure for the contagious face - eating cancer
plaguing Tasmanian devils, an
outbreak of mysterious skin lesions has spread through at least on population
of bottle - nosed
Europe razed almost half its temperate oak -, beech - and birch - woods in the Middle Ages, an onslaught only briefly reversed by an
outbreak of bubonic
plague in the 14th century.
But the precise effect
of pine bark beetle
plagues on the nitrogen cycle and carbon cycle is highly variable, says a research group led by the University
of Idaho, who have used an ecosystem model to simulate
outbreaks.