Looking for the origins of the black plague

2002/04/26 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Mikrobiologia

The black plague was an epidemic that killed a quarter of the European population in the 14th century. The disease caused by the bacteria yersinia pestis is transmitted to humans through fleas.

The United States Center for Infectious Diseases in Montana studies the origin of this bacteria. It seems that the key to everything is the mutation of a gene. The mutated gene, called PLD, provides the bacteria with the protection needed to live in the flea intestine. Unmutated bacteria produce mild intestinal disease in humans. But they say that by achieving the ability to live in mutates and fleas, it facilitated the development of strains that cause more intense infections. Thus arose the bacteria responsible for the black plague.