Link video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=rTws5K9Ai4o
Could the Plague Rise Again? - SciShow
Task: Listen to a talk about Plague and fill in each blank with NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS:
Plague first spread to human in 541 CE, after picking up a mutation of Pla, a (1)____________________ that
allowed it to infect more of the body.
There are three types of plague:
- Bubonic one (2)______________________, causing them to swell up as painful buboes
- (3)________________________ spreads to the bloodstream
- Pneumonic plague infects the respiratory tract
A (4)_____________________ disease can spread between animals and human.
(5)___________________________ is found to inhabit on humans rather than frequently jumping between
rodents and people.
Wiping out animals reservoirs such as (6)______________________ and kitties to eradicate the plague is
impossible and undesirable.
(7)__________________________________ generally can control the smallpox disease.
See, in 1995, researchers (8)_________________________ over the discovery of strains of the plague that were
resistant to some antibiotics, which would make for an extremely deadly outbreak.
Plague bacteria have to pick up these (9)_______________________ from another bacteria to become drug-
resistant.
In the history, armies used to (10)_________________________ over the walls during sieges to help thin the
defenses
Answer:
1. Protein-cutting enzyme
2. Infects the lymph nodes
3. Septicemic plague
4. Zoonotic
5. Fleas and lice
6. Rats, ferrets
7. Modern hygiene and clinical practices
8. Raised red flags over
9. Resistance-conferring plasmids
10. Catapult corpses

Transcript:
[♪ INTRO] In the 14th century, the Black Death spread throughout the old world, wiping out somewhere
between a quarter and half of all the people living in Eurasia at the time. And that put the plague right up
there with smallpox as one of the deadliest diseases our species has ever faced. But, of course, nobody
gets smallpox any more. Literally nobody: it’s been eradicated. You would think the Black Death is one of
those diseases left in the dustbin of history, too. But the plague is alive and well, and while it’s not causing
world-changing epidemics any more, it’s still a problem. It turns out we’re still learning a lot about this
infamous bacterium, and the new intel might help scientists determine if it will ever go all medieval on us
again. The plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It evolved from a mild gut bug sometime in
the last ten thousand years. And it’s been plaguing us since at least 541 CE, when it picked up a mutated
version of a gene called Pla, a protein-cutting enzyme that allowed it to infect more of the body and
spread more virulently than its older cousin. Now, there are actually three types of plague. Bubonic
plague is when it infects the lymph nodes, causing them to swell up as painful buboes. If the infection
spreads to the bloodstream, it becomes septicemic plague. But the form of most concern to public health
professionals is pneumonic plague, which is when it infects the respiratory tract. It’s more deadly than
the other forms, and it can more easily spread from person to person directly because infected people
send bacteria-filled droplets into the air when they cough. And that’s a big deal because usually, the
bacteria move around thanks to the help of other critters, called vectors. The plague is a zoonotic disease,
meaning it can spread between humans and animals. And while rats are usually blamed for the spread of
plague, the actual vectors are biting parasites like fleas, which carry the bacteria in their guts. In fact, a
study in January of 2018 suggested that the fleas and lice which spread the Black Death may have mostly
been dining on humans rather than frequently jumping between rodents and people. But rodents can get
the plague and act as carriers, meaning it can hide in their population while it’s not infecting us,
something that definitely did happen back then, and still happens now. Fortunately, all forms of the
plague are treatable with antibiotics. The challenge is catching it in time, since its early symptoms often
resemble the flu. And doctors, well, when they see flu-like symptoms, they guess “flu” before they guess
“the actual, literal plague.” So could the plague ever mount a Michael Jordan-style comeback? Well, for
people in some parts of the world, “back” is the wrong word. The plague is native to parts of North and
South America, Africa, and Asia. And though it isn’t wiping out a third of the world’s population like it
used to, it does still cause serious outbreaks in places like Madagascar, and there are a couple thousand
cases reported every year. And that’s in part because of those furry carriers. It’s neither feasible nor
desirable to wipe out all the animal reservoirs the plague can hide in. Like rats. And ferrets. And cute
little kitties. And unlike with smallpox, good plague vaccines don’t exist. At least one promising one is in
development, but prior to that, existing vaccines could cause nasty reactions, had to be re-upped
frequently, and they didn’t really work very well anyway. A real triple crown. Even today, scientists are
still unlocking the plague’s nasty little secrets. It wasn’t until 2015 that a study published in PLOS
Pathogens described how the bacterium could make its way from a tiny, shallow flea bite to your lymph
nodes. Since it’s still around, the short answer is yes, the plague could rise again. Luckily, modern hygiene
and clinical practices generally keep it in check. We’re usually able to get anyone who’s coughing up
plague-laced sputum off the street before they encounter too many other people. So person-to-person
transmission has become blessedly rare. And we don’t tend to interact so much with flea-infested
animals. But the real game-changer has been those antibiotics. And that’s where the potential for a
modern outbreak becomes a little more of a reality. See, in 1995, researchers raised red flags over the
discovery of strains of the plague that were resistant to some antibiotics, which would make for an
extremely deadly outbreak and is therefore a perfectly reasonable thing to raise red flags over. However,
these drug-resistant strains haven’t caused much trouble yet. That’s partially because it actually seems to
be difficult for the plague bacterium to acquire antibiotic resistance. Drug resistance is often transmitted
among bacteria on small, circular snippets of DNA called plasmids. Plague bacteria have to pick up these
resistance-conferring plasmids from another bacteria, but they just don’t seem to run into resistant bugs
that often in nature. And unlike humans, rodent populations don’t frequently encounter antibiotics. So
there doesn’t seem to be an evolutionary advantage ensuring that the plague bacteria will hang on to
drug resistance even if they do pick it up. But, if there was to be a global pandemic, it would most likely
be from a resistant strain, or from one modified for bioterrorism. There’s actually a really long history of
using the plague as a weapon. Armies used to catapult corpses over the walls during sieges to help thin
the defenses. But doctors, scientists, and military personnel have plans in place in case anyone does try to
modernize that strategy. And anyone who would even consider such a thing would be violating several
international agreements. Short of these two scenarios, a 21st-century Black Death-like epidemic is
pretty unlikely. That doesn’t mean the plague isn’t a problem for the thousands of people who do catch it
every year. But fortunately, by developing better vaccines and continuing to study the bacterium
responsible, we're working on beating it back for good. Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow! If
you enjoyed learning about the Black Death, you might like our episode about how it and five other
diseases totally changed the course of human history.