PlaGue epidemics in Europe

Presented by: Aqsa Mazhar

0277-BH-E-18
Presented to: Ms. Suzaina Khan
Course Title: Biology of Vectors
Course Code: Z-4105
Department of Zoology, GCUL
 Outline:
 Introduction
 Origin of Plague
 Spread of Plague
 Plague Arrives in Europe
 Vector of Plague
 Major outbreaks of Plague in the history
1st outbreak
2nd outbreak
3rd outbreak
 Plague today
 Mode of transmission
 Ways of infection transmission
 Treatment
 Introduction:
● Plague is a fetal disease caused by infection with Yersinia pestis, a Gram
negative bacterium.
● It spread across Europe from 1347-1351.
● Doctors could not treat the disease.
o Tried bloodletting and folk medicine.

o Some people turned to magic and witchcraft.

 Origin of the Plague:
● Disease spread rapidly through crowded
urban cities.
● Mongol armies helped spread the
plague.
● They even used infected dead bodies as a
biological weapon.

West Spread:
● Plague moved along the caravan trade
routes toward the west.
● By 1345 had arrived in Russia.
● Arrives in Cairo and Alexandria by
1348.
Spread of Plague:
 Plague Arrives in Europe:
● Resurgence of trade helped spread
plague into Europe.
● Fleas on rats spread from trading
ships into Europe.
● Enters through Sicily and then Italian
City states.
● Quickly spreads through Europe.
Continue…
● Unsanitary conditions in cities and
towns created large populations of
rats which carried the disease.
● Fleas leapt from rats to people.
 Vector of Plague:
Oriental Rat Flea (Xenopsylla cheopis)
●It is the principal vector of the causative
agents of plague in many tropical and
subtropical parts of the world.
●Most common: domestic rats
●Others: humans, dogs, cats, the house mouse
etc.
Major Outbreaks Of Plague In The History:

The Plague of
01. Justinian 02. The Black Death

The 3rd outbreak

03.
The 1st outbreak: The Plague of Justinian
The first great pandemic which was named after
Justinian I, the Roman emperor of the Byzantine Empire
at the time.
Origin:
It originated in Africa and then spread to Europe
through infected rats on merchant ships.
It reached the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and
was soon claiming up to 10,000 lives per day.
Symptoms:
●Ancient historian Procopius reported the classic
symptoms of bubonic plague which were sudden fever
and swollen lymph nodes.

Death Toll:
●It is believed to have killed at least 25 million people,
but the actual death toll may have been much higher.
2nd major outbreak: 2nd pandemic:
Origin of Black death:
●The second pandemic usually referred as the
Black Death.

Origin:
It originated in central Asia in the 14th
century and spread to Europe along
developing trade routes between these two
continents.
Worst hit regions:
●In 1347, crew members of an Asian trading vessel that docked in Sicily, Italy
were infected with a mysterious disease that was later identified as plague.
●Over the next five years, plague spread throughout most of Europe.
Death Toll:
●By 1352, at least 25 million people had died in Europe alone.
●This pandemic endured for more than 200 years, with the disease appearing
or reappearing in different regions of Europe.
The First quarantine:
●The phrase ‘quarantine’ was coined in Venice in the early 15th century, based
on a 40-day period of isolation.

Quarantine:
●It is the exclusion and isolation of those coming from infected regions, or of
others suspected of carrying plague, to avoid them mixing with uninfected
populations for a certain number of days.
 The third major outbreak:
3rd Pandemic:
●It is the most recent one, also called
the “Third Pandemic”.
●It was erupted in 1855 in the Chinese
province of Yunnan.
●The disease traversed the globe over
the next several decades, and by the
beginning of the 20th century.
Death Toll:
●The worldwide outbreak would eventually claim some 15 million lives before
petering out in the 1950s.
Origin:
●Most of the devastation took place in China and India, but there were also
scattered cases from South Africa to San Francisco.
Plague Today:

● Today, plague occurs as fairly discrete foci in various parts of Asia, southern
and north western Africa, South America, and western North America.
● Outbreaks have surfaced in Algeria, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Ecuador, India, Iran, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Peru, South
Africa, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Globally, nearly 19,000 human cases of plague were reported to the World
Health Organization from a total of 20 countries in 1984-1994.
 Flea drinks rat blood Bacteria multiply in flea’s gut.
that carries the bacteria.

Human is infected
Mode of Transmission

Flea bites human and Flea’s gut clogged with

regurgitates blood into bacteria.
human wound.
Ways of Infection Transmission:

Humans can be infected through:

● the bite of infected vector fleas
● unprotected contact with infectious bodily fluids or contaminated materials
● the inhalation of respiratory droplets from a patient with pneumonic plague.
Treatment:
Vaccine: Nowadays, Formalin-inactivated plague vaccines are available.
However, they are not totally effective.
Antibiotics:
●Plague can be treated using antibiotics like:
● Ciprofloxacin
● Doxycycline
● Gentamicin
● Levofloxacin
Thank you!