plague

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Scientists May Have Solved a Mystery of the Plague
Black Death May
Have Started Here
NEW STUDY
Jun 16, 2022 12:24 PM CDT

Black Death May Have Started Here

Researchers believe 700-year-old teeth point to what is now Kyrgyzstan

(Newser) - Researchers say they've discovered "when and where the single most notorious and infamous killer of humans began." They're referring to the Black Death, or bubonic plague, which is thought to have wiped out tens of millions of people in Europe, Asia, and North Africa during...

Doubt Cast on Death Toll From the Black Plague
Doubt Cast on Death Toll
From the Black Plague
NEW STUDY
Feb 11, 2022 12:28 PM CST

Doubt Cast on Death Toll From the Black Plague

Researchers analyzing ancient pollen deposits are skeptical it killed half of Europe

(Newser) - "It may still be the 'mother of all pandemics,' but what we think the Black Death was is changing," according to researchers, who are calling into question the widely reported claim that the bubonic plague pandemic from 1346 to 1353 wiped out half of Europe's...

Woman Catches Most Deadly Form of Plague From Her Cats

Pneumonic plague rarely occurs in humans; her case is severe

(Newser) - A woman in Wyoming has come down with pneumonic plague, the most severe form of plague and the only one that can pass from person to person, which she likely caught from her cats. The state Health Department reported Wyoming's seventh human case of plague in 43 years—a...

Chipmunks With the Plague Lead to Closures in Resort City

Sections in southern part of Calif. resort area to remain shuttered through end of week after rodents test positive

(Newser) - Last year was the year of the murder hornets and flying ants . This year, it's plague chipmunks. The AP reports that certain sections on the south shores of California's Lake Tahoe have been temporarily closed after some of the striped rodents tested positive for the infectious disease. Due...

10-Year-Old Killed by Plague in Colorado

It's the first such death in the state since 2015

(Newser) - Colorado had logged its first death from plague since 2015—and the victim was just 10 years old. A statement issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the child, who "died from causes associated with plague," was from LaPlata County, where testing subsequently confirmed...

Feeling Pandemic Angst? Shakespeare May Have, Too

And his woe may have influenced his later works, including 'King Lear,' one expert says

(Newser) - By now, we all understand all too well the feelings of fear, sadness, anger, and despair that the coronavirus has brought, with tens of millions of cases and 1.6 million deaths worldwide so far. Those emotions have triggered a revelation of sorts in Shakespeare expert Greg Doran, who now...

New Research Takes 'Odious' View of History

The Odeuropa project gives European history a good whiff

(Newser) - Ever said, "Oh, that smells nasty?" Then you were part of history. Case in point: A team of scientists and historians is embarking on a plan to catalogue the smells of Europe over time and see what they say about society, the New York Times reports. The new $3....

California Has First Case of Plague in 5 Years

Dog-walker may have been bitten by infected flea

(Newser) - Because a pandemic, a heat wave , and rolling power shortages weren't enough, California is now dealing with the plague, too. Health authorities in South Lake Tahoe say a local resident has tested positive—the first case for the state in five years, reports the Los Angeles Times . The best...

Colorado Squirrel Tests Positive for Plague
The Black Death
Surfaces in Colorado
Jul 15, 2020 12:33 AM CDT

The Black Death Surfaces in Colorado

Squirrel tests positive in Jefferson County

(Newser) - A squirrel in Colorado tested positive for the bubonic plague, Jefferson County officials announced. The Black Death, which started in the 1300s, was the deadliest pandemic in human history, but today a human's chance of contracting the plague is quite low, ABC News reports. Even so, the WHO has...

China's New Worry: the Bubonic Plague

Herdsman contracts it, likely from a marmot

(Newser) - China has another infectious disease worry on its hands, but this one is old school. As in, it's the bubonic plague, reports the BBC . It seems a herder in Inner Mongolia came down with the disease, and he's now undergoing treatment in a hospital, per the New York ...

Locust Plague Swoops Down Upon 2 Nations

Somalia, Ethiopia seeing worst invasion of desert locusts in 25 years: UN food agency

(Newser) - Crops on nearly 173,000 acres of land have been destroyed in Somalia and parts of eastern Ethiopia in what the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is deeming the region's worst desert locust invasion in a quarter century. The FAO notes the insect plague is imperiling farmers' livelihoods...

2 Cases of Plague Cause Concern in China
2 People in China
Contract the Plague
Nov 13, 2019 12:35 PM CST

2 People in China Contract the Plague

Couple diagnosed with pneumonic plague, the most serious form

(Newser) - The New York Times is reporting on "fears of an outbreak" of plague—and, no, you haven't traveled back in time. On Tuesday, officials in China announced that two people had been diagnosed with pneumonic plague, which the CDC calls the most serious of three forms of the...

Infected Prairie Dogs Shut Down Wildlife Refuge

Parts of Commerce City, Colo., preserve are closed to visitors due to plague

(Newser) - Sections of a wildlife refuge near Denver remain closed due to plague-infected prairie dogs at risk of spreading the disease to people. The 15,000-acre Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo., closed in July as fleas spread sylvatic plague among black-tailed prairie dogs, per USA Today...

Couple Eats Raw Rodent Meat, Dies of Bubonic Plague

6-day quarantine declared in Mongolia

(Newser) - A Mongolian couple who took part in a supposed "folk remedy for good health," per the BBC , ended up dying of bubonic plague. The couple ate raw marmot meat and kidney and came down with the highly contagious plague, and on May 1, 118 people who had come...

American Child Gets Disease That Killed Half of Europe

It's Idaho's first human case in 26 years

(Newser) - An Idaho child has come down with a rare illness that once tormented medieval Europe. Details are scant, but the child contracted bubonic plague in Idaho or on a recent visit to Oregon and is recovering with antibiotics, per the Idaho Statesman and Oregonian . Where the child lives, in Elmore...

In Case of Black Death, Rats May Be Innocent
Don't Blame Rats for
Europe's Black Death
NEW STUDY
Jan 16, 2018 10:45 AM CST

Don't Blame Rats for Europe's Black Death

Human-carried parasites might be true culprits: study

(Newser) - Those poor, misjudged rats? According to infectious disease experts in Norway and Italy, rats aren't to blame for the spread of the Black Death, which has previously been referred to as the species' most infamous crime. In fact, humans might've been directly involved, reports the CBC . While studying...

Plague Finds its Way to Fleas in One US State

Arizona county is warning residents to leash their dogs and de-flea all pets

(Newser) - The bacterium that wiped out millions in Europe in the Black Death pandemic of the 1300s lives on, and officials say it's resurfaced in fleas in Arizona. Navajo County public health officials warn on Facebook that Yersinia pestis, better known as the plague, can be transmitted to humans and...

New Mexico Confirms 3 Cases of Plague

Santa Fe County victims hospitalized

(Newser) - The New Mexico Department of Health on Monday confirmed two more human cases of plague. The recent cases involve a 52-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman. The first case this year was reported in early June in a 63-year-old man. All three patients, who live in Santa Fe County, were...

Source of London's Great Plague Is Found in Boneyard

'Yersina pestis' also responsible for the Black Death

(Newser) - Scientists finally know what killed 100,000 people in the Great Plague of London, or a quarter of the population, more than 350 years ago—and it would've been familiar to anyone around 300 years before that. An examination of 20 of the 3,500 skeletons found last year...

Officials: Plague Found at Lake Tahoe Campground

Flea from chipmunk confirmed to have disease

(Newser) - A scenic campground near the shores of Lake Tahoe is now plastered with warning signs after the US Forest Service announced a flea from a yellow chipmunk there tested positive for plague , the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The Forest Service's Lake Tahoe division, as well as officials from El Dorado...

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