Anomalocaris Posted September 28, 2015 #1 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Bacteria in ancient flea may be ancestor of the Black Death About 20 million years ago a single flea became entombed in amber with tiny bacteria attached to it, providing what researchers believe may be the oldest evidence on Earth of a dreaded and historic killer - an ancient strain of the bubonic plague.Read more 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patient Zero Posted September 28, 2015 #2 Share Posted September 28, 2015 (edited) That's wild. i've always been fascinated by how devastating the plague (and to a lesser extent, small pox) was. Good find, Anomalocaris. 2 u. Edited September 28, 2015 by Misanthropic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Wearer of Hats Posted September 28, 2015 #3 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Will they call it "The Grey Feeling a bit Crook"? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundew Posted September 30, 2015 #4 Share Posted September 30, 2015 "There is no danger..." Now perhaps, but wait until they start sequencing its genes and inserting them into modern Yersinia pests, just for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taniwha Posted September 30, 2015 #5 Share Posted September 30, 2015 No doubt this is how dinosaurs were wiped off the earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taun Posted September 30, 2015 #6 Share Posted September 30, 2015 I think they should explore this fully... I mean, what could possibly go wrong? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bee Posted September 30, 2015 #7 Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) . great news... .... smiley malfunction - it's that one with the eyes going from side to side While there's no risk of this ancient bacteria coming back to life and infecting people in the present, its discovery does offer scientists with a chance to study how it evolved over millions of years. famous last words.... totally agree Taun - what could possibly go wrong . Edited September 30, 2015 by bee 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patient Zero Posted September 30, 2015 #8 Share Posted September 30, 2015 (edited) I think they should explore this fully... I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Ahh, we'd be fine. According to dickipedia, 5-15 people contract plague each year in the US. For a disease that killed 75 to 200 million people, peaking in Europe in the years 1346 to 1353, i'd say we're doin' alright. Go science! Edit: Cut n' paste resulted in cut and misinformation. Whoopsie. Edited September 30, 2015 by Misanthropic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taun Posted September 30, 2015 #9 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Ahh, we'd be fine. According to dickipedia, 5-15 people contract plague each year in the US. For a disease that killed 75 to 200 million people, peaking in Europe in the years 1346 to 1353, i'd say we're doin' alright. Go science! Edit: Cut n' paste resulted in cut and misinformation. Whoopsie. The problem is that the "black Death" or Bubonic Plague, that we have today is a mutated version of the one that swept through Europe in the 1400's... A disease that is millions of years removed from Human's means it is millions of years removed from our immune systems... It could easily be more deadly than the plague of the 1400's... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ealdwita Posted September 30, 2015 #10 Share Posted September 30, 2015 Ealdwita snippet alert.... The amount of the population who died from the original bubonic strain was 50%. A variant of the disease was pneumonic plague, which attacked the lungs. Victims died quickly, in one or two days. The mortality rate in this case was 90%. Another variant was septicaemic plague, which infected the blood. Again victims died quickly and the mortality rate was 100%. So, looking at those figures....if you're gonna catch plague, the bubonic version would seem the preferable variety. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena1979 Posted September 30, 2015 #11 Share Posted September 30, 2015 The Dominican republic is a ways away from Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarjarbinks Posted October 1, 2015 #12 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Just like Inferno from Dan Brown 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patient Zero Posted October 1, 2015 #13 Share Posted October 1, 2015 The problem is that the "black Death" or Bubonic Plague, that we have today is a mutated version of the one that swept through Europe in the 1400's... A disease that is millions of years removed from Human's means it is millions of years removed from our immune systems... It could easily be more deadly than the plague of the 1400's... You're absolutely correct. Thank you for teaching this old dog something new. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Merton Posted October 1, 2015 #14 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Ealdwita snippet alert.... The amount of the population who died from the original bubonic strain was 50%. A variant of the disease was pneumonic plague, which attacked the lungs. Victims died quickly, in one or two days. The mortality rate in this case was 90%. Another variant was septicaemic plague, which infected the blood. Again victims died quickly and the mortality rate was 100%. So, looking at those figures....if you're gonna catch plague, the bubonic version would seem the preferable variety. Well maybe -- the more lethal an infectious disease is, all else being equal, the shorter the time before it burns itself out. Still that is little encouragement for those with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taun Posted October 1, 2015 #15 Share Posted October 1, 2015 (edited) The Dominican republic is a ways away from Europe. Not with todays jet travel... A case could be made that it is actually much closer... Back in the 1400's (or so) it would take weeks for a person to travel from say, Istanbul (still called Constantinople then) to Paris... Today, to travel from The Dominican Republic to Paris, takes only a few hours... The plague(s) back then spread in patterns of years, creeping relatively slowly from one area to another... Today, any major outbreak would be global in a matter of hours... Edited October 1, 2015 by Taun 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathya Posted October 4, 2015 #16 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Well, let's not open that amber and try to examine this flea. We've got enough problems to deal with in our world today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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