Cause of death in Plague.?Death may occur in plague either from syncope or asphyxia. In any case of plague, but especially in the pneumonic forms, there is a tendency for the respiration rate to be increased out of proportion to the pulse and temperature. I frequently noted that when the pulse and temperature rose just before death, the respiration rate rapidly fell and vice versa. I append a f...

Health disparities occur when adverse health conditions are unequal across populations due in part to gaps in wealth. These disparities continue to plague global health. Decades of research suggests that the natural environment can play a key role in sustaining the health of the public. However, the influence of the natural environment on health disparities is not well-articulated. Green spaces...

Sylvatic plague is a flea-borne zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which can cause extensive mortality among prairie dogs (Cynomys) in western North America. It is unclear whether the plague organism persists locally among resistant host species or elsewhere following epizootics. From June to August 2002 and 2003 we collected blood and flea samples from small mammals at p...

investor-state dispute settlement (isds) continues to plague health-oriented government regulation. this is particularly reflected in recent challenges to tobacco control measures through bilateral investment agreements. there are numerous reform proposals circulating within the public health community. however, i suggest that perhaps it is time for the community to explore a stronger position ...

Neglected Diseases R ecent experience with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) [1] and avian flu shows that the public and political response to threats from new anthropozoonoses can be near-hysteria. This can readily make us forget more classical animal-borne diseases, such as plague (Box 1). Three recent international meetings on plague (Box 2) concluded that: (1) it should be re-emphasi...

Plague, the causative agent of three devastating pandemics in history, is currently a re-emerging disease, probably due to climate change and other anthropogenic changes. Without understanding the response of plague systems to anthropogenic or climate changes in their trophic web, it is unfeasible to effectively predict years with high risks of plague outbreak, hampering our ability for effecti...

Plague is a bacterial (Yersinia pestis) disease that causes epizootic die-offs in black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) populations in the North American Great Plains. Through their grazing and burrowing, prairie dogs modify vegetation and landscape structure on their colonies in ways that affect other grassland species. Plague epizootics on prairie dog colonies can have indirect effe...

Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, has only recently evolved from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. hfq deletion caused severe growth restriction at 37 degrees C in Y. pestis but not in Y. pseudotuberculosis. Strains from all epidemic plague biovars were similarly affected, implicating Hfq, and likely small RNAs (sRNAs), in the unique biology of the plague bacillus.

THE MOST famous paintings and designs depicting bubonic plague have at times been criticized for a certain lack of clinical veracity, because they do not show lesions which would make recognition of the disease possible.' One can, of course, look approvingly at a plague bubo prominently displayed, admittedly on the thigh instead of in the groin, in respresentations of St. Roch,2 one of the patr...

For centuries, the plague caused fear and panic. The term “bubonic plague” relates to ulcerated lymph nodes (the buboes) observed in the groin, armpit, or neck of the infected person. The plague was transmitted from rodent to rodent—and to humans— by fleas. Today, bubonic plague is treatable if diagnosed early, but the pulmonary (pneumonic) form of the infection still carries a very high risk o...